The Suns of Midnight
by Patchwork Poltergeist
Summary: An umbreon relishes freedom and the wild. Capture will never befall her...but things do not always go as planned.... Updated!
1. Prologe: In this Twilight hour

Disclaimer: I do not now, never had, and never will own pokemon (unless by some miraculous act of God coincidence I inherit the company). 

The metapod were evolving. The evening air stilled around the forest, and not a creature made a sound, nor did the wind blow, all were silent for what was to come. A bright light then exploded from the dark stillness as if a million golden suns had shot out simultaneously, almost as if a new dawn were arising as the forest was transformed into a realm of majesty. One by one the newly evolved butterfree emerged from their former shells and lifted into the heavens, wings shimmering in the pale moonlight and scattered small stun spore particles into the dark like fairy dust. Delighted with their new mobility as opposed to their former weak small caterpie and old stiff metapod forms the pokemon soared into the night climbing higher, higher, higher until they could climb no more and soared in the twilight air twirling around each other celebrating the evolution. The treetops were now alive with the ecstatic cries of the butterfree's joy and passion and upon hearing this chorus many other pokemon, some of which would normally _never_ be out in the dark, emerged from their homes, woke from sleep, and paused in the hunt to watch the celebration. Even the snorlax that lived in the thicket two miles away woke to watch- and eat of course. 

I sat atop the tall rocks outside my den getting a perfect view of the whole thing, quietly taking in the splendor and beauty of what was happening. Now this- this was the night at it's fullest. Not too far off from my perch I could see others who watch the mass evolution and my fur bristled with annoyance. 

Humans, four of them all sitting in on a big flat rock in a clearing eyes on the sky. I growled softly at the very thought of them interrupting such a sacred sight. To tell the truth if there were just ordinary run-of-the-mill humans I wouldn't have minded, but no these were trainers. Trainers with empty pokeballs in their belts which no doubt meant that they had come to catch them selves a nice fresh butterfree. My quiet growl grew louder. They had no right to be here. This was our home, _my_ home and they show no respect at all. Instead observing the ritual peacefully and respectfully they pointed and shouted obnoxiously. Except for a girl whose hand went straight for her ball ready for a catch. My ears lowered in anxiety, for I knew well what was coming. I'd seen it many times before. Sure enough, a few of the butterfree glided down o test it's agility though the trees a pokeball was thrown and a tired, but fierce looking spearow was released. The flying type flew straight up into the air gaining more and more height until it finally dive-bombed and struck down the butterfree with a single wing attack. My stomach churned. The bug pokemon fell swiftly to the earth and lay there, defeated and in pain. A pokeball was thrown into the air, came down and shifted one, two, three times and the poor butterfree was free no more. Below the spearow was recalled and the trainer's friends warmly congratulated him. 

I on the other hand felt sick. Desperately sick. I looked again to the night sky where the remaining newly evolved fluttered in the moonlight. It just wasn't right. For a pokemon to wait so, so long, dream so many nights, and hope for what seems like ages for the final day when they banish their old small and meek forms for a new ones beautiful big, strong, powerful a and free then almost in an instant to have all that freedom longed for snatched away from you…it..it just wasn't _right_. 'Why?' I thought 'Why on tonight of all nights to interrupt such a beautiful ceremony? Could they not see that this was a rare and sacred thing? Could they not hear the unfortunate captor's voice ring with the joy of true freedom and joy only to turn to a cry of terror, sadness and pain? Have any of them **ever **even once tried to consider the possibility that we had lives, hopes, dreams, family, and friends of our own? My ribs shuddered with a saddened sigh. No. no, they couldn't. And if by some gift of Celebi they did then they simply did not care. 

Above some of what I guessed where the aught butterfree's companions noticed their friend was gone and were desperately worried crying out his name heart-tearing desperation with every call as they fluttered franticly in the first wondering where their friend had disappeared to. Finally a weedle called out and must have told them the unfortunate news for the search arty sadly drifted back into the sky. Their once jovial voices now heavy with grief that their friend would not be coming back. 

I sat staring at them sympathetically as they hovered there heartbroken, then miserable followed their fellow butterfree over the horizon. The humans had gone inside their sleeping bags, the pokemon returned to their normal habits..and the snorlax ate some more and went back to sleep. My rings glowed quietly as I made my way into the forest for my evening meal, my mind still on the image of that poor butterfree and it's cries of anguish. Again, as I had so many times swore that such a fate would not befall _this _umbreon. "No" I whispered to the twilight stars "Not me. Never. Not me." 


	2. Capture

Disclaimer: nothing has changed. I still don't own pokemon. However, I DO own most of the said pokemon characters in this story, in other words, I put my own umbreon, hoot-hoot, etc. in this story…so…u Below is the key for future reference. No telepathy for a while, but it'll show up later. Enjoy.

KEY

"blah" - speech (pokemon and human speech are written the same way)

__

'blah' - thought

__

blah - telepathy (none in this chappy, but will be later on)

(AN: blah)- author's note

~~~~~~- time passes

__

"You can't take me, I'm free"~ Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron 

For pokemon, there are there are nights that only come in dreams. Nights when food is so plentiful that you could literally take a swim in, emerged in an endless sea of food, food that you caught yourself, immersing in the simple joy of crunching a catch between you cheeks and you held the wild animalistic urge to simply eat it. ALL of it, in a selfish greedy stupor of which the pokemon and human worlds had never seen in their lives. All is good, all is fantastic, and all is for you and you alone. Yes- THAT is the kind of night dreams are made on.

Unfortunately for me, tonight was certainly NOT one of those nights. My ears were pinned back ruefully in frustration as I trotted around yet another picked clean berry bush. This had to be at least the eighteenth bush I tired, dawn would be coming soon and hadn't a single thing to eat since the mass evolution. Not to mention that a heavy fog was setting in quickly and while I had light of my own, against the thickness coming in, it would be practically useless. 

I sighed and shook my now dew-wet fur as I climbed a tall hill in hope of finding something, _anything_ before the dawn broke. No luck on the post itself, but I'd expected that anyway. Earlier I'd even resorted to looking in the campsite where the trainers had stayed earlier for leftovers only to find the rattatta had picked it clean. It was just as well, I hated to resort to scavenging like some abandoned pidgey, I may not have any food, but I still had my pride after all. 

In the distance a pack of houndour sang the last song for the twilight, in both triumph and pride. "Hmmm. Probably brought down a stantler, or maybe a tauros that escaped from a ranch or something." I chuckled "But more likely they're simply scaring random trainers that just passed by." The pack, as well as some houndoom, murkrow, and of course umbreon like myself (ignoring the fact that I'm the only one in the forest…) enjoyed our private game of jumping out into the path in the middle of a fog, or a dark night standing there in awesome brilliance, an opportunity way too good for any trainer to pass up. Then we'd run off leading them off the trail, appearing out of nowhere, and then disappearing again teasingly. Sometimes, the pack would finish the job by letting out an eerie howl frightening enough to send a slowpoke into terrified hysterics. Then the unfortunate human would either keep going, or more likely they'd t run back to the pokemon center two miles back, tell about what they saw, not get believed and question their sanity. I grinned. This was probably why us dark type got a bad reputation for being "evil" and frightening. This was also backed up by the fact none of us- really cared and therefore did nothing to disillusion that thought. If that was what the humans and trained pokemon wished to think, then let them. Not any of** our **business. The wild ones here knew the truth, and so did we, no more than that was needed. '_Besides, we_ are _quite frightening when we want to be.' _I thought to myself. 

I turned away from the pack and began to go on my way once more. By now it was so foggy, I could barely see my on paws ion the ground and I snarled in frustration. "Accursed fog. If I didn't know better I'd think the forest itself was against me. Not only am I starving, I'm lost in this horrid, cloud of misery and woe." Another voice rang out, one with a cynical tone that matched my own "Oh yes, the entire world's after this poor little umbreon lost in the world boo hoo hoo. Come off it Rhee, it's just a fog. Not a thunderstorm, not a hurricane, not a poisonous gas that will kill us all in a matter of seconds, and certainly not a dark cloud of misery and woe. It's a fog and nothing more." A red light shot out, making the fog gradually get thinner, just so I could make out the figure who hopped down to me. "The fog will be what I tell it to be Tharn. Besides, not everyone has foresight like you do, some cannot banish this weather so easily. You know" "I thought I told you not to call me Tharn" said the hoot-hoot that walked up to me with a cross look on his face. "My name is Tharnalius, thank you. Not Tharn, not Aluis, Tharnalius." "I'll stop calling you Tharn, when snorlax fly of jumpluff seeds of golden magic with and fly all pretty like with the articuno. Or at least until you stop calling me Rhee." I began to walk again, with Tharn hopping along beside me. He was a bit more pudgy than most of his kind, and he had short stubby wings that hardly took him three feet, and therefore usually walked or hopped everywhere. He swiveled his large head to the side "Well I can't call you anything else, you won't tell me you're name. Not a real one anyway." I flipped my tail indignantly "I do so have a name. My name is the spirit of darkness, the essence of shadows, the enemy of the light, -" 

"-the call of the houndoom, the freedom of the night, the voice of twilight, the looker to the moon, you're dancer in the dark, your name is in the very threads of the night's power, in the voices of all night-dwellers, and the wind that blows the murkrow wings. Yes, yes you've told me, told me more than I needed to. "

"More than **_ANY_** of us need to know, now shut your trap, some people are trying to SLEEP!" rang out an angry pidgey. We paused blinked in it's general direction for a moments and chuckled. "So..what's up for tonight? I thought you'd be sleepin' in your den by now or at least sitting on that hill of rocks above it. Why out so late?" "Hunger. I'm looking for my dinner..and not finding anything," I sighed. Tharn hopped onto my back and hitched a ride as I strode through the woodlands "You should have gotten up early at sunset and eaten then before the mass evolution. By now, all the berries have been eaten, and the prey gone back into hiding, now that the show's over. Most of the food was eaten while watching the ceremony, and there was twice as many then- more In fact seeing as how all those day-dwellers were up and about." Tharn gave me a scolding peck dead center of one of my rings "You should have been like the smart pokemon and ate before hand, or stored something away last night. Now it's too late and here's to poor eevee-lution all hungry and sad. How tragic". I grinned "In other words Tharn, you haven't eaten either and are just as hungry as I am.." The hoot-hoot closed his eyes and sighed in defeat "nope. How'd you know?" "I'm your companion, idiot, it's my job to know. Besides" my grin widened "you said _smart _pokemon remember? And apparently my stubby winged friend are not of that persuasion." Tharn hopped back down and gave me a dirty look "I hate you." I nuzzled his belly fur "Awwwwww, I hate you too Tharn. I hate you too."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  
Various leaves and other debris were pushed aside as I trotted through the bush dejectedly. At my back the sun was peaking out from behind the trees awakening the early risers, the sky turning from midnight blue, to a light blueish pink sending thin golden rays in small bars through the trees and already some of the pidgey and lediba were awake. My tail drooped as I headed beck to my den sadly reflecting on the past ten minutes. Not too long ago Tharn had returned to his own roost not long ago after satisfying his hunger with some tree sap, which I declined to eating. After that I'd gone to the brook in hopes of catching a magikarp, fell in, got soaked. The "HA!" from the rattatta I heard before didn't help. After tonight I was more than ready to crawl back under my secure rock-den, turn in and hope tomorrow I had more luck. Sometimes a pokemon just had to cut her losses and admit defeat. Suddenly something in the grass rustled- something too small for the usual brush pokemon and certainly wasn't a human so I supposed it had to be a bug-type of some kind. I pricked my ears and quietly slunk in the grass letting my self melt into the shadows of the dawn tense and alert. A weedle was crawling amiably down a tall oak tree and making it's way so one of the bushes. It stopped for a moment looking around as if sensing danger then shrugged it off and continued. I moved closer haunches up and ready. For the pounce Wait…wait……. The weedle's head was now in the bush eyes closed in delighted with it's meal. Now. I leapt out and slid towards the bug. It wheeled around and raced towards the tree (AN: It's a FAST weedle ok?) I went after it and with a swipe pinned it's body beneath my paws. It let out a high pitched squeal making me pin back my ears and also lifting my paws just a bit. That was all it needed. It whipped it's tail in the air and in a single movement dug it's barb smack dab into my paw. 

I winced sharply and started to after it only to be rewarded by a sharp pain shooting into my front leg. It wobbled and slid out from under me and I swiftly crashed to the forest floor. I lay there for a while in silent agony with tightly shut eyes not even bothering to rise. The venom was strong surprisingly fast and I soon felt close to paralis or faint. I draped my good paw over my eyes to keep out the fully risen merciless sun and was like that for I don't know how long, lying quietly in the wood in silent pain waiting for night or death- whichever came first to come. Until a scent drifted in my nose. It was very week- masked my sweet scent and if not for the fact that I was upwind I wouldn't have caught it at all. My eyes snapped open with a sudden panic. I knew that scent- it was the one smell I'd known and hated all my live and up till now I had only considered it with annoyance, but now the smell brought only fear. A snap of a twig was heard .A human. I got to my feet and limped to the oak where the weedle had emerged earlier and looked up hopelessly into the branches. _Curse it…..the first branch is too high…way to high. _Another twig snapped- closer this time. _but…I'll try! I have to. _With a gulp and a quick prayer I jumped and slammed myself as high as I could into the tree digging my claws into the bark deep, resulting in me dangling like laundry left to dry and very slowly pulled my self up. The first branch. Not bad for a species that doesn't really climb. Another snap. The scent got stronger. With no time to get any higher I dove into the leaves , drew back my ears and curled into a ball praying silently. By now the footsteps were really close closer..closer…until they stopped. Right below my tree. I back up further into the leaves and instantly cursed to myself realizing the I'd given away my position. . I tucked in even tighter hardly daring to breathe _Oh Legendaries… Mew, Celebi, moltres, lugia, latias, **anybody **just let them pass. Please let them just pass. _They did not pass. My heart was in my throat as the human looked up into the branches curiously and spoke the dreaded command

"Thakur, headbutt!" 

The entire tree thundered and shook and as the pidgey above scattered I wildly scrambled to keep aloft and soon felt nothing below, air whistling and my breath being thrown back into me as I slammed into the dirt. I let out a pained cry and and opened my eyes despite the ache and the fact that the poison was now clouding my vision. I could juts make out the figure of a boy, it smelled young and probably inexperienced. And also a pokemon- a growlithe to be exact. I managed to my feet and spread them apart in the classic umbreon fighting stance with my head lowered, teach bared crimson eyes blazing with rebellion. I was not about to go down with out a fight. With my condition there was a chance I might die in this thing, but I wouldn't be caught. I'd gladly die first. "an umbreon…" the boy was amazed, then the voice turned to surprised glee "Wow! An umbreon all the way out here and on our first try too! We're getting better at this Tahkur!" The growlithe gave a happy bark in response. "Pokeball, go!" The ball flew and I turned and I snarled, turned and whacked it away with my tail into the bushes. Not that easily boy. Not that easily. The kid scowled "hmm. It looked weak, thought that would do the trick. Ah well. Thakur!" His pokemon crouched "Tackle!!" the growlithe raced towards me and I quickly leapt away, wheeled around and slammed into him with a tackle of my own. It was tossed aside and I continued the assault and gave him a deep bite attack on his foreleg. The growlithe yelped loudly and pulled away, forcing my teeth to rake into his skin. It shied away looking surprised, he hardly knew what hit him. I grinned mockingly "Who's the week one now, trained one?" "Don't give up Thakur! It seemed as they weren't done yet. The growlithe snarled "Flamewheel!" He jumped into the air and I countered with agility, but ended up slipping on it injured paw and running into a rock. Behold the nimble umbreon. The circle of flames shot through the air and I was tossed off the rock with the burning inferno blazing through the body and crumbled again to the ground. I tried desperately to stand- and couldn't. I cried out weekly and slumped back,, spirit willing but body not cooperating. I cracked open one eye just in time to see the trainer pull out yet another pokeball. My eyes widened _No….. _"Pokeball…." _Not me…never……not like this….. _"go!" _Not me…_

The dreaded red and white orb shot up, shone in the morning sun, then came down again. I knew I could not stop it this time. My fate was set. I saw a bright red light, then felt being pulled in. 

Then…felt nothing at all.


	3. Spirit of the Night, Thy Name is Ozaki

Disclaimer: What do I own? Nothing. I don't own pokemon, I don't own the quote used at the beginning, I don't own a DVD player, I don't own a PS2, I don't own a an evil monkey of doom, I don't own a Gameboy SP, I own nothing. Because I'm a poor, poor author-person. However I DO now own Pokemon Sapphire, got it for my b-day on Monday HUZZAH!! I love my new mighteyenna *huggles it* Oh right the fic…err..enjoy! (sorry this is a bit late, finals are this week..damn you finals.)

__

"The past is but the beginning of a beginning, and all that is and ever has been is but the twilight of the dawn." – H.G. Wells

I awoke to the smell of cleaning fluid and glass. The surrounding air was cold and under my paws I could feel a hard metallic surface covered by some sort of cloth and a stilled feeling around me. I shivered in the cold air and wondered if it would be better to simply go back to sleep. Perhaps this was all some hallucination brought on by the weedle poison, but then again that would have been a merciful act by the pokegods, and from what I could remember from the past few days they didn't exactly have me on their mercy list lately. I slowly cracked open my eyes and was warmly greeted by a bunch of bright lights shining in my face from above. I growled and tucked my head back in. Stupid humans and their day-living-light-needing-ways. Why couldn't they just live in the shadows like everyone else? Or at least in a dim forest, but nooooo, they just have to have eye-burning lights around them all the time. Someone yelled something to someone else and the lights were dimmed a bit.   
  
Several blurry figures stood around me, but due to the ammonia in the air I couldn't sniff out who there were. As my eyes adjusted I could see my captor leaning down, hands resting on his knees staring with wide sea green eyes. He wasn't very tall, but not very short either, with semi-long jet-black hair that now gleamed a sort of blue from the lights of the machines and long bangs that hung in front of his face. He wore a black T-shirt with what resembled a silver silhouette of an eevee on it surrounded by blue flames that ran along the short sleeves accompanied by dark blue shorts, running shoes, and a crimson headband. As my eyes opened he broke into a huge grin. A fairly tall woman smiled back to him with long red hair that came down along her back wearing a white uniform and a small white hat resting atop her head, this I was soon to learn was Nurse Joy. "See? I told you your umbreon would be just fine." "Yeah" the boy laughed nervously "She is. See Thakur?" The growlithe from earlier barked cheerily at him from his place beside the boy's legs wagging his curled tail. It seemed that they were very glad to see me; unfortunately I failed to feel the same. I snarled and back up into a corner, ear flattened trying to look as frightening as possible, making a chansey jump. I pressed myself against the glass showing my teeth growling low. I was feeling much better than I had been earlier that day, but I was certainly in no condition to battle, I just had to hope my bluff worked. I was scared. And I was bluffing as hard as I could, and that scared me even more. I'd never tried to scare anyone before, not to protect myself anyway. I never had to, until now. I didn't know what this place was or what these humans planned to do, but I knew it was not the path back to my forest and the enthralled night that dwelled within it, and that was reason enough for me. 

The growlithe called Thakur jumped to his feat and growled back, placing himself between myself and the boy, fur raised and fangs bared ready to protect his master. I calmed down a bit and smiled inwardly. At least someone was falling for the con. But it seemed the nurse however wasn't so easily fooled. She exchanged a smile with the chansey, the way a parents would to a child that was acting foolish. My captor blinked in surprise and stared up at the nurse. "Nurse Joy, I don't think she likes me very much" I rolled my eyes '_Gee, did you figure that out all by yourself?' _The human named Joy smoothed her hair and called over the chansey "It _does_ look that way doesn't it? Ah! Stay right there, I'll be right back." Joy moved towards a room in the back as the chansey tried to calm down the growlithe Thakur, who still hadn't stopped growling.   
I ignored him (which only made him angrier) and held my glare on the boy who stared back with frustration and confusion in his eyes, but he too held his gaze. I had to admire him for that, if nothing else. Up till now, everyone else I stared at eventually looked away. "You know" said Joy as she rummaged through the back room "You must be a very talented trainer Jaylen, have you and Thakur been together for a long time?" "No, not really" "But you said he was your first right?" "He is, and Devo was my second, but I've only been training for thee and a half weeks. I started on the 15th, I remember 'cause my birthday's on the 10th and it seems like I've been waiting forever to get my license., I missed out for the past two years since I was staying away from home then. Why'd you think I was an expert?" The nurse returned holding an odd looking pokeball in one hand and a small star shaped piece of metal in the other. 

"Well, I figured you would be, seeing as how you caught _that_ umbreon. It's lived in the woods for a very long time, and countless trainers have tried to catch it and failed. They usually end up here feeling very bitter, usually because they end up getting tricked, badly frightened, or simply beaten to a pulp. I believe it was said that this umbreon even bested a primape trained my the gym leader Chuck." 

I looked up and blinked. Surely I didn't do all of that, did I? True, I did remember beating a primape (and a very rude one at that) and pulling a few tricks on passers by, but this human talked as if I were a legendary, and I was certainly no legendary. No one ever caught legendaries. "As a mater of fact" "Joy continued "I believe the guidebook advises traveling my day in those woods in order to avoid being attacked by it or the other dark types that live there. If you caught it, then you must be a better than you think." I just kept staring blankly at the two humans. Since when did I become the famous dark spirit of the forest? And what was with the "it"? Failed to catch IT, scared of IT, I was an umbreon, a female umbreon, the least she could do was recognize my gender if I was indeed as renowned as she said I was. The way she spoke, it was like I was possession. But then again…. I glanced at the pokeball. I'd been captured, I guessed that technically made me "his" pokemon. But I certainly didn't feel like "His" pokemon….I just felt like myself- only like there was something missing. Something important. Thakur barked again and I suddenly realized I'd been pacing back and forth in the case. "Anyway, I have something for you Jaylen" said the nurse, handing the odd looking pokeball to the boy . He blinked in curiosity "What is it?" "That's a luxury ball, pretty isn't it? It 's more comfortable than regular pokeball, and it should help your umbreon adjust more easily. And this chip will make the transfer from the ball it was caught in to the luxury ball, plus it will prevent your umbreon from letting itself out" With that, she inserted the star shaped device in the bottom of the ball. The boy, Jaylen leaned down and let me investigate it. It _was _very attractive, for a pokeball anyway. It was a shiny black with gold lined within it, the same as my own colors. It also looked very expensive. "I suppose we should be on our way. Thanks for your help Nurse Joy." He lifted the luxury ball "Return" 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Okay, I'll admit it, the luxury ball did feel rather nice, and it was certainly an improvement over the Pokemon Center case and it was much better than my original pokeball. This one was more spacious, and cushioned. Plus, if you looked up there were tiny holes at the top, so sunlight shone down like little stars. I had just awoken from yet another nap, being in there may have felt nice, but it was boring. You couldn't see anything happening outside, although you could hear a bit. Then I felt the ball expand I was treated to the smell of fresh grass and the twilight air as I was released. Jaylen retracted the ball and attached it back to his belt and went back to the small fire Thakur was helping to start. It was sunset and we were in an open field on some sort. I took a long stretch and strolled out into the field and was about to make my way to a small hill to try and see where I was., when there was a rustle in the grass. I paused and took a short looks around, I didn't see anyone, and due to the fact I was downwind, I couldn't smell anyone either. 

Suddenly the ground below exploded as a blue blur jumped out, bounced on my side, rolled in the grass and then flipped back up in front of me with a wide grin plastered across her face as small white puffs danced around us in the breeze. It was a jumpluff, and a hyper one at that. She shook herself and poked my leg. "Hello! You're the new arrival, right? That's good, I'm new too, I was only caught a few days ago, I tried to play with Thakur, but he ended up stepping on me. He don't mean to do it, he's just so clumsy sometimes. But you look pretty fast, you wanna play with me? Huh? Huh? Do ya do ya do ya?" I blinked "Err….not right now thanks.." "Oh, I'm sorry to hear that, it's fun to play out here, even if it is getting kinda dark. I don't like the dark it's all spooky and stuff and I'm a-scared to be out there by myself, but out here I'm not as scared because Thakur's here, and you're here and Jaylen's here to protect me! Thakur said you didn't like Jaylen that much, that's an awful shame, he's a very nice boy. He plays and trains, and feeds us good food. He's really fun, wouldn't you agree? Oh, you just arrived how could you know, you haven't played with us yet, but I really don't like playing that because it's getting kinda dark out now. Did I mention that I don't like the dark very much?"" "Yes, I believe you did" "I bet _you're _not a-scared of the dark, you're a dark type after all.! By the way I'm Tani, yep yep! What's your name?" "I'm-" "Hey, you know what, I'm hungry! I'll bet Jaylen's cookin' something really good! Do ya wanna come with me and get somethin' to eat? Huh? Huh? Huh?" "Not right now" Tani looked disappointed, but seemed to cheer up quickly "Can ya play with me later then? After I eat, we can play in the field and it'll be lots and lots of fun cuz I can blow my fluff everywhere and it sparkles at night and is really pretty, but I don't do it much cuz I'm scared of the dark. But I heard that you guys have rings that light up and glow and make it not so dark anymore right? Right! So with you playing with me ?" I blinked again. This jumpluff certainly liked to chatter. I began to say no, but the look Tani gave me changed my mind. "Alright." "YAY!!!" the little jumpluff jumped up and nuzzled my cheek "This is gonna be fun!! I'll be back right before ya know it! G'bye!" 

As I continued to the hill I saw earlier, I could hear Tani jabbering in the distance "Hey Thakur, guess what?? I met the new umbreon and she's not all mean and stuff like you said before, she's really nice and she even said she'd play with me! Even though I don't really like playing at night, but it'll be fun this time, especially if you could join us! I don't think you met the same umbreon I just talked too, she's too nice, that's what I think, yep yep! She's gonna not let me be a-sacred of the dark no more. Did I mention I'm scared of the dark? "

As it turned out little Tani was right, it got dark sooner than I expected. I lay down in the emerald grass and took in the sweet night air and took time to absorb the atmosphere. This was certainly a big change from the thickets and mountains I was used to. If I stood and looked out I could see the land stretch for miles and miles and it would seem like it would never stop. Like it was endless, with only itself and the sky above it. Not only that the sky seemed so close here, as if you jumped high enough you could dance on the stars or sing with the moon. This was a big difference from what I was used to, but this part I rather liked. It was much better than the part at the Pokemon Center anyway. I sat up and stared into the night sky. At least the constellations weren't different. They'd always be there. I smiled a bit as I remembered the stories about the stars my mother used to tell me. "All the great po9kemon of legend are up there" she'd say "And the first of all the pokemon too. The first rattatta, the first eevee, the first ponyta, the first psyduck, and yes, the first umbreon too." She would also tell me that some pokemon who had proven themselves worthy in life had their portraits drawn in the stars to look down on the world they helped form and protect. Tonight I could clearly see Dracilli, the legendary dragonair, that brought forth the first rain to the world and now curved ever winding in the sparkling cosmos. This was new as well. I had seen Dracilli before, but not very often. From my watching rock near my den I could usually see Kraken the murkrow that takes in all thing the way they should be into his ebony wings and holds them there to preserve them. It was fitting really, that now Instead of seeing the stars of constancy, I now saw the stars of change (for the first rain brought many changes to the earth), as now my entire lifestyle, my entire life in itself had changed. 

"….I'm never going to see my forest again, am I?" I asked the stars. The phrase struck a chord in me, never in my life had I ever expected to say those words. Because I never thought they would have any truth. But it was true. I was never going to see it even again. A hoot-hoot called out in the distance and I immediately thought of Tharn and wondered how he was. Did he know what happened to me? What if he was wandering the forest at this very moment calling out my name blindly searching for something that could never be found, like the group of butterfree those nights ago. I also thought of what Nurse Joy said earlier, how I had a reputation for making things hard for passersby, and how I constantly evaded capture and for the first time in moons I remembered the way some of the young one looked at me as I walked though the green wood with admiration in their eyes for the one who would always be free, the one never caught, the one who laughed in the face of capture, their hero. And I wondered who they would look to now. 

My ears pricked as I heard the crunch of grass beneath paws and I turned to find the growlithe Thakur standing behind me. "Hello" I waved my tail at him. "I..believe we never really got properly introduced. I'm Thakur." "So I've heard" "and I believe you've already met Tani." "Indeed. I thought she was coming to play." "Nah, she bounced around until she tired herself out and fell asleep on Jaylen's backpack." "I see. So. Shouldn't you be asleep with your _master_?" Thakur licked his muzzle, obviously catching the sarcastic tone but decided to say nothing about it "I couldn't sleep. And my _keeper _isn't sleeping anyway. He's reading. That's how he names us you know, from characters in his books. " "Explain" "Well my names is from a character that serves as a fire keeper, and since I'm a fire type, he naturally named me after him. And Tani comes from a bouncy little girl or something I think. I don't rightly remember." I said nothing and looked out into the distance "He's come up with a name for you too as well." "Has he now?" "Yeah. He's decided to call you Ozaki, after a rebel heroine that refuses to submit to the hand of her country's new ruler. It rather fits well, doesn't it?" "Well…it's better than what I expected him to call me." "Like?" "I expected a stupid cliché name like 'shadow', or midnight or something like that." "It seems that you misjudged Jaylen. You really should give him a chance, he's a very nice trainer once you get to know him. You should give him a chance." With that Thakur turned and trotted back to his keeper. 

I looked to the stars again. 

"Hmm. Ozaki…."


	4. Not So Sweet Dreams Are Made of This

Disclaimer: I still own nothing. Life update! I gots a gerbil for a late birthday present! His name's Devo and he black and adorable! I wuv him so! Anyway, thanks so, so much for the support for my fic! Reviews fill me with many happy fluids! ^__^ 

(I'm so sorry this is late! Summer laziness gets to me..)

"I've decided something. I don't like the sea" Thakur stood on the edge of rocks far above the crashing waves with a disgusted look on your face as the ocean spray hit his nose. "Yes, well as much as I'm enthralled my your discomfort, there's not much you can do about it is there?" The growlithe shifted uncomfortably. "No…but I can't help it. I'm a fire type. I really don't like the water…." "Yeah, well I'm a dark type and I really don't like the sun, but here I am smack in the stupid sunrise next to a whiny growlithe because I don't have a choice because my new trainer dragged me here, just as he dragged _you _here. We could both be sitting in a nice shady forest if we were free, but we're not, we're by the stupid beach next to the stupid sea with the stupid sun." With that I jumped off the shore rocks and onto the sand where Tani and Jaylen were near the docks waiting for the ferry. Where that ferry led to, I didn't know, or really care for that matter. All I knew was that it was probably headed southeast, since from what I could tell by the stars and from inside my ball we'd been going that way for some time now. Jaylen let us out of our balls as much as he could, usually rotating Tani and I around and Thakur always out. Probably because he couldn't keep track of all three of us at once, with Tani literally bouncing on every bush and blade of grass, and me wandering off. I suppose he was afraid I might walk off and not come back, which I probably wouldn't. I grinned at the thought. To just go off in one directing, traveling that straight line to whatever it may lead, just to see what was there. A wanderer of sorts. In a sense, I almost had become that. Almost. Traveling of your own accord, and traveling of someone else's are two entirely different matters. 

A soft wisp of air passed through my fur as the wind picked up, carrying little Tani lightly along with it until it set her back down again in front of me as a low whistle sounded in the distance. Jaylen stood and pulled on his backpack, recalled Tani and began to head in the dock's direction. Thakur pricked his ears, and dashed to his master's side with gusto, obviously glad to leave the shore. He trotted merrily between the boy and I wagging his puffy tail and his pink tongue hanging out idiotically. I shut my eyes, pretending that none of this ever existed. "So, where do you think we're going?" the growlithe asked. "Well, we're on a dock, with sailors and an ocean. Gee, I dunno Thakur, maybe we're going on a **_boat_**?!" Thakur wrinkled his nose "You don't have to be so cynical about it. I KNOW what a boat it, you know. I've been on plenty of boats! I LOVE boats!" I grinned "You have no idea what a boat is do you?" "Well…I…the thing is… no. What are they?" "It's- well, you'll see." 

I thanked the poke-gods it was morning, not as many trainers were at the docks now. Usually there were piles of them here, like so many that you're constantly shoved around feet piles. I had heard them the day before, they made a horrible racket. That may have also been why Jaylen decided to start out early to avoid crowns and lines. That or to get a head start on where wherever we were going . We soon approached a titanic (AN: no pun intended) ferry….more like a cruise ship actually. But then again, I'd never really seen a ship up close before. As Jaylen and Tahkur paid the tickets and walked into the deck I looked over my shoulder in the direction of my forest a bit sadly and wondered where we were going. But oddly enough, I didn't feel as sad as I thought I would be and I wondered if this was the work of the Luxury ball, or my natural urge to explore or if..maybe..something …more. But whatever it was, I couldn't stop it, whatever happened now would happen, weather I liked it or not. 

Thakur looked confused as we entered our room (apparently this was going to be a two day trip) as Jaylen concerned himself with a map and the surroundings and I hopped on an extra bed by a window in the room for a nap. This was the time I was supposed to be asleep after all. But as I slept I did not dream…I only remembered.

````````````````````````````````````````````````

I'm an eevee again, but I'm not in my forest and I am not in the underbrush of my childhood either. I am traveling, just after setting out on my own and the goodbyes of my family were still fresh in my head. It is winter and the several patches of ice are sitting on the path I am walking a few snowflakes begin to fall and I shiver a bit from the harsh wind. My feet are beginning to become tired as I approach a clearing ahead and approach it with gusto and suddenly stop in my tracks as I scent something that makes my fur stand one end: man. I remembered my mother's warnings of humans. Of their evilness and deceit. I recalled my father's stories of their trickery and lies. Of living only for your master and nothing else but the slim chance of a grin and a pat on the head and the horrible battles you must face. There is nothing else for you. It does not exist- unless you master wants it to. You know nothing of freedom, of love, of loyalty, except the freedom of death and your blind hopeless love and false loyalty toward tour master, because that façade is all you have. And I knew my parents were right. They must have been, they'd lived longer than I, seen more than I. So I take heed to their warnings and dive into a bush and watch in silent terror as two tall men approach the center of the clearing, one is dressed in a smart business suit, the other in a black and red uniform. This sight somehow tells me that these humans were more to be feared than any other and I hide even deeper in the bush. 

Almost simultaneously they toss the dreaded red and white orbs of legend into the air and two pokemon appear. The first is a tauros, larger than most and his horns are rich and sharp in preparation for the coming battle. He rears and bellows a deafening roar of fearsome challenge and then crashes to the ground, and the earth itself shudders as he does so. He tosses his mighty head and tears at the earth with his horrid hooves, letting out large steamy clouds streaming from his nostrils in the cold air like a steam engine as he snorts and roars again. His opponent however, is a poor comparison. It is a slowbro, and his skin looks horribly dry and beginning to crack and peal for his skin needs to moistened, not to mention this cold dry air only makes it worse. From my hiding place I can also see the shell is terribly cracked in several places as he sits shivering, not only from the cold but mostly from fear as he stares into the eyes of the one me must face and his entire being racked with terror, knowing without doubt that this a fight he cannot win. and unsuccessfully tries to hide inside his shell. The tauros raises his head and roars again and the slowbro lets out a silent scream and his frail week body cowers in front of his strong opponent, his ivory eyes glazed over in savage terror , terror I had never seen in my live and would never witness again. The suited-man chuckles, and the chuckle slowly grows in to a large malevolent laugh as his tauros echoes with another giant bellow. 

The uniformed-one glares down at his pokemon's cowardly response and gives it a kick- not a very powerful one, but one that still hurt- and the frightened slowbro edges out into the center where the tauros waits for him. His entire body now not only shivers, making even his tattered shell rattle, but his entire being screams for this not to happen to him, death, beatings, abandonment, ANYTHING just so he doesn't have to face that horrible thing waiting to grind him into psy-dst. He begins a soft frightened moan, but is cut off by the sharp command of his master. He is trying to be brave- he really is, but he cannot escape what is about to happen to him. So he simply stands there with ratting knees staring up into the eyes of doom. He does not _think _he will lose this, he _KNOWS _it. Knows it for certain. He is not strong enough- not in this condition, in this weather, no matter the amount of scolding, praise, or punishment his trainer gives him. So he can only stand frozen in his tracks as the battle begins. The suited-one yells a command the great beast once again roars, this time loud enough to send the pidgey fleeing in terror from the treetops and I feel like my bones will melt, and lowers his head and charges forward. The uniformed-one yells something at his frightened pokemon something along the lines of dodging. The slowbro somehow snaps himself out of his terror in an effort to somehow please his master and scrambles out of the raging pokemon's way and tries to let out a confusion attack but is surprised to see the tauros suddenly wheel around and slam all 195 pounds on the week shell and the slowbro is tossed aside in the process. He lands frighteningly close to where I am hiding . He doesn't get up again, only lies there breathing pathetically in the snow. The suited one laughs evilly again and the tauros stomps in triumph as he is recalled. The suited man grabs a handful of cash from the uniformed-one's hand and walks off proudly. 

The slowbo's master is not as happy. He glares down at the loser and the slowbro attempts to look up at his master for forgiveness, but he cannot even do this. The uniformed one kicks his pokemon into a bed of weeds and thorns and storms off, and he doses not seem concerned about returning to help him. The slowbro groans again and I slowly come out of the bushes and stare, wondering if I should leave him here or not. But, I really cannot do much, I'm only one eevee after all, not strong enough to carry him anywhere for help, and no one was around to ask help from. I ask him if he is alright and he rolls over on his back and stares back so intensely with his glassy eyes that I take a few steps back. The eyes seem to bore into the core of my soul and I cannot look away, wishing that he would turn his, head, go into his shell, close his eyes in death, anything so I don't have to look into those eyes anymore. But- there is more than that. It is as if he was speaking with me- almost psychically, but not quite, my mother was an espeon, so I already know what psychic communication was like. This…is similar, but it was different. Frightening. Almost wrong. And I hear him speak- 

"This. This is your fate. Your fate, eevee" I leap back in terror, not exactly knowing why I am afraid, and then my fur raises in protest "No! It's…it's not my fate! It's not!" He seems to smile as a mother would with a child that's being foolish, even though his expression does not change "Oh, but it is. It is. It is the fate of all pokemon. You may not like it, but that is the truth. We are here…for man's purpose..nothing else. Because nothing else will exist.. Your master takes care of you, and you will love him for it. He will take for from your home, you will love him for it. He will force you into battle, and you will love him for it. He will treat you, not as an equal but as an ignorant pet, and you will love him for this to. You will love him and you will believe that he is doing you good. He is saving you from your ignorance, he is saving you from insanity, for any existence without your master is an object produced from insanity. The only sanity is with your master. Without him, nothing exists unless he wills it." I lower my ears and can feel my fur prickling and my paws seem to take in the ice below my paws, like a plant does I shake my head in desperation. "No! That's not true! It's not1 It can't be! I don't have a master and lots of things exist, the ground, the sky, you me, they all exist! They're right in front of my face" The slowbro blinks slowly "No." I blink back, and answer indignantly "No? What on earth do you mean 'no'? I exist,. I KNOW I exist, if nothing else, I know that I and my family exist" "No" he said again "No."

I give a small yip and take another leap back. The slowbro's glassy eyes continue to stare, but I now am able to look away, and am suddenly overcome by the urge to flee, so I do. I go as far away from, the forest and the defeated slowbro as quickly as my paws may carry me through the falling snow. But as I run, I still somehow hear his voice in my head "It is your fate. It is the fate…of us all."

````````````````````````````````````````````````

My eyes snapped open and I quickly sat upon the cabin bed panting with the slowbro's voice still in my head and shuddered. After a quick groom I noticed it was near sunset again and I had slept all day. I also realized that we must have cast off, for I could feel the ship rocking. I suddenly became aware that something was leaning on my side and I jumped away to discover a suitcase that is not Jaylen's, his is on the opposite bed, where Tani was sound asleep and spreading spores all over the bed. We must have had a roommate. I gave myself a shake and decided to venture out onto the deck, to get a good view, maybe a meal…

And to clear my head.

AN: Well, that was some dream wasn't it? And no, Ozaki is NOT going insane (I've had two people ask me that already -_-. Anyway…I like to blend in characters from the show into my fic..if you can figure out who the two trainers in the dream are then…I dunno..I'll give you something nice. Like a bottle cap or something. 


	5. Come Sail Away

Disclaimer: I still own nothin'. This is a bit late..so….um. Sorry. My stupid internet went out and my parents are taking FOREVER to pay it. I'm uploadingthis via skool computer. So noone tyell at me if the structure of this chapter is off. I actually finished this chapter quite a while ago. Here's the second part of chapter five, Enjoy!

__

"All I ask is a tall ship and a star to sail her by."-Willy Wonka 

The fading sunlight reflected on the water and cast up a glare in my face as I leaned over the deck staring at the sea gloomily. The slowbro's voice was still in my head and I was grateful for the feel of spray on my face to try and clear my head. Why was I thinking of these things now, of all times? It hadn't come to mind for years now, a small memory "stashed in the closet of my mind" as my father would say. The ship bucked and I had to dig my claws into the wood to keep from slipping into the sea and decided to watch the ocean from a safer spot. Like….the roof. 

I started off to the back of the boat to see if there was anything I could jump on to get to the top when I bumped my nose into a familiar reddish patch of fur and sneezed. Thakur jumped in mild surprise, and then went back to looking out to where the shore had been with a sad sick look on his face. I lifted an eyebrow "What's the matter with _you_?" The growlithe turned to me with his face all screwed up and his nose crinkled "You…you didn't tell me the boat would be on the _WATER!_" 

"Oh, is that it?" 

"What do you mean just IT? We're surrounded by water! I don't like water…. And not only that- where are you going?" he sniffed. 

"The roof."

"Why?" 

"To look at the sea." 

"Why?" 

"Because I feel like it." 

"Why?" 

I turned and gave him an annoyed look "Why do you want to know anyway?" "Because. And I'm going to the main hall with Jaylen later on, and I want you to come with me?" I sighed "You're just saying that so you won't be alone and near the water anymore" "Well…yes. Besides, Tani's asleep, and Jaylen's talking to people about stuff I don't understand. And I still haven't figured out where we're going. Do you know?" "As a matter of fact, I do." I jumped to a pile of rope and flattened myself on the deck so that my rings and eyes glowed against the setting sun "We're going to a dark horrible swamp with ferocious feraligators, and brutal blastoise, and eeeeeevil dastardly dewgong that are going to **_GET_** you! Bwahahahaha!!!" Thakur drew back his ears again "You don't have to be a jerk about it, just because you don't know." "Whatever" I yawned and stretched out on the barrel

As I lay there I listened, listened to the wind blowing dust gently across the deck, the creaking of wood, waves lapping gently aside the ferry, listened to the voices of the humans in the room behind me through the wall, singing.. Wait. Singing? Yes, a new voice carrying a tune was slowly being carried on the wind and getting louder as it came closer. 

"…An' I will travel the world, and over the waves

A-searchin' for ye, and the love that ye gave

And I will travel ye, for ye

Only for ye, me love

And for you I sing my song of a sailor

A sailor's song for, me love

A song for you, for you

'Tis this sailor's lonely song just for you…"

The last line was the loudest as two small orange feet landed on my barrel, spreading it's very long wings as it did so. I stood and stared at him. It was a pokemon, at least I guessed so. It was obviously a flying type- it had flown the way here after all. It was bird like and not very big. He was a moonwhite with blue markings on the tips of his very long wings that brightly reflected the setting sun. "Ahoy lass!" He cocked his head and stared closely, poking his long bill in my face "Well, now vat 'ave we 'ere then?" "I was about to ask you the same thing. What..what _are _you?" "Me? Why me lass I be a wingull!" I blinked at him. He cocked his head to the side again "Eh? Don' be telling' ol' Aft you've never seen one of us, now? We be just about everywhere there's water, we are." "Well not where I lived, we certainly didn't. I lived in a forest" I jerked my head "back that way. "But then again I never lived on the sea either." "Ahh, I see. I see. So, what be you lass?" "She happens to be a very rude umbreon" was the call from bellow. "Shut it Thakur!" Aft flapped his wings and grinned (as much as one with a beak _can _grin anyway) "Ohhhh! So that be an umbreon eh? Ve don' get yer kind much oot 'ere on dis ferry. Glad to have ye aboard lass. Glad to have ye." Thakur put his front paws on the barrel and sniffed Aft's feathers "Did you know your feathers smell like sardines?" Aft smiled again and his beady eyes sparkled "Why lad, that be the smell of the sea!" He inhaled deeply and spread his long wings again to add to the effect. "Don' ye jus' love it?" "I'm really not a fan of the sea…" "That's an understatement" I scoffed. Thakur growled at me. "Don't you growl at me!" I growled back. Aft blinked in surprise "Don' like the sea? Well, that be a shame laddie, I 'appen to love the sea." 

Thakur made a whining sound and went back down on all fours "Well, I don't. I really, **_really_** don't. It looks dangerous, and….bad." Aft hopped to the rim of the barrel and stared down at him "Aye. It can be dangerous when 'tis angry or upset, but most of the time it's nice enough. Nice enough for this ol' seabird anyway." He gave a raspy, but warm laugh. "You sound like you have a nice life. Flying out in the open, free without a trainer…." I said to him. "How do you know he doesn't have a trainer?" demanded Thakur "Trainer? Nah, me lass you're right I has no trainer, but I do 'ave me cap 'in!" "Captain?" "Aye, Cap'in Briney, head of the good ship S.S ..the S.S…..heh, fancy that I can't seem to recall the name of the vessel…but you can bet yer boots that she's the safest on the sea! And you were right before, tis a good life. A good life indeed. " "I guess it's an acquired taste… Aft, do you happen know where we're going?" "That I do!" Aft pointed a wing outward "We be goin' back to me home, to Honen." he edged forward and prepared to take off "I suppose I'll be a-seein' ye later on the voyage. I suggest ye be goin' down to the main hall. There be a reception goin' on down thar. Many, many trainers there be. But the real attraction is the snacks." 

At mention of the word "snacks" Thakur's jaw let his long pink tongue roll out and he began to pant. "Me capin's down thar too." the wingull chuckled "He be callin' me "Peeko", he does." With that he spread his blue tipped wings and flew off into the night. 

Thakur nodded wagging his curled tail "That's some good advice, let's go down to the main hall Ozaki and meet everybody!" I gave him a blank look "And?" "and…that's it." "…..and we would do this because……?" "It'll be fun!" "I doubt it" "Aww c'mon. Aft said there'll be snacks down there. You've been sleeping al day and missed breakfast, you can't tell me you're not hungry." He was right..I hadn't eaten a thing since a plate of salty crackers last afternoon. After a short debate about ethics and what kind of demented company would put enough salt to kill a truckload of slugs on a single cracker, I sighed and eventually jumped off the barrel. 

~~~~~~~~~

__

By suicune, I hate, hate **HATE** my life…. Why, WHY in the name of all the gods that ever existed did I EVER listen to my stomach instead of my head?! You'd think that getting caught by such circumstances would have made me wise up, but noooooooo, not me. 

I'd decided to take shelter under a tablecloth covering the refreshment table nearly as soon as I'd arrived, crouched in the darkest corner I could find, ear flattened in deep, sweltering hatred of what was outside. At least in here the smell of the newly washed tablecloth was held inside and didn't let the outside smells in my shelter. In front of me, a flap of the cloth was lifted up on a chair leg, allowing a bit of the outside in, but it was better than nothing. 

The hall, as Aft promised was not only filled with humans, it was packed to the brim. All sorts of two-leggeds filled the small room, their stench filling the air, and loud drawling, yelling, squeaky, horrible voices so that one could hardly hear themselves think and a horrible aura erupted from them that made my fur stand on end. With them were pokemon, and not just a few. Tens, maybe _hundreds_ of them, all sitting on or near their beloved "masters", pokemon that would NEVER be this close to each other in the wild. Pidgey perching on sneasel, houndoom sleeping with sentret on their backs, and a sandshrew with a ridiculously large disgustingly pink bow on it's dry neck grooming a totodile in a red tuxedo. A **_tuxedo_**! A ground type would normally NEVER let a water type get anywhere _near_ it, unless it were absolutely necessary, which it probably wouldn't be, since the marshes were at least a good 100 miles away from the deserts. And that wasn't even getting into the stupid outfits they were in. no totodile, or any pokemon for that meter was EVER meant to wear such an idiotic contraption, there's no use for it, it only gets in the way and you certainly couldn't swim with it. For only show and nothing more, to make him look "cute and sweet" as his trainer out it. What's worse, they didn't even seem to mind, not the pikachu in a top hat, not the clefairy practically drowning in bows, and certainly not the sandshew with the stupid bow. In fact, I dared say they ENJOYED being paraded around like dress up dolls. I honestly couldn't believe it, where was their dignity, their sanity?! Had the entire planet gone **mad**?! 

I backed farther into my corner, red eyes in wide disturbed horror, hoping that no one would discover my hiding spot and shut my eyes, making an unhappy face. If I was lucky, all of them, including my own "trainer" would forget I was here and I'd be left alone to find a nice dark, quiet forest that had the smells of the wild in it and pray I would never be bothered with this…this….debauchery ever again. But of course, that was if I was _lucky_. And lady luck seemed to make me at the very, very bottom of her charity list. A hand gripped the bottom of my protective veil and my expression soured even more. "Lady luck's a bitch" 

The tablecloth was lifted up and the horrible sounds and smells slammed into me once again, along with the bright blinding light from the lamps above. Through a cracked eye I could see the silhouette of a familiar head. I gave a long exasperated sigh as Jaylen's arms crept under and pulled me out as my expression began to sour even more than it already was, if that was even possible. Violet gloved hands held me in a tight grip to prevent escaping, and because of his new gloved hands, biting wouldn't get me down either (It probably wouldn't be a god idea to run off in a place with so many kicking feet anyway) so I went limp and let the boy hold me in front of him "So there you are, you slippery seviper you" I blinked at him. What on earth was a "seviper"? It sounded like some kind of odd herb or something. Jaylen turned to face another human, this one a female. She was about an inch taller than him, with very long hazel hair with gold highlights that reached to her knees, and wearing a ragged gray shirt with a black skull with the words "Silent Scream" printed under it in bright red bleeding letters, along with that she also wore long black jeans that flowed over black combat boots with large buckles and a pendent resembling a red teardrop hung from a short silver chain around her neck, and silver bracelets held on tightly to her wrists. 

Jaylen scratched the spot behind my shoulder blade "This is Ozaki, the one I told you about" The girl began to reach out to pet me between the eyes, in my center ring and I glared and just missed nipping her bejeweled arm. She gave me an annoyed look, which I gladly returned with a spiteful growl. No one touches my center ring. Jaylen looked up at the girl apologetically "I'm sorry, she must be nervous about all the people. Not used to this sort of thing you know." 

"S'ok. Although you may want to consider keeping it inside it's pokeball more often until it learns to behave." AGAIN with the "it"! She tossed her hair back, revealing a cleffa sitting on her shoulder holding a short black staff with a small bronze skull on the top. And was then I noticed a mewoth sitting boredly at her feet. He looked half asleep. The girl patted the cleffa on the head "This here's Vicious." Jaylen lifted his eyebrows "that's a…unique name for a cleffa….." "The name used to be Sid-Vicious, but that takes too long to say." The two of them began laugh as I stared at the little creature on his human's shoulder, looking grumpier that most of his kind. One of the hands holding me shifted to his pocket, (the other still with a hard grip) and took out an odd looking red device with many buttons on it and pointed to the cleffa. A light on the device blinked and monotone voice announced "Cleffa. The starshape pokemon. When numerous meteors illuminate the night sky, sighting of cleffa strangely increase" Jaylen put the machine back into his pocket and pointed a gloved finger at the cleffa. 

"You know, I think I've heard that before……I read that they're associated with stars. Some legends say that they make the stars come out, some even say they come from the stars as well." The little pokemon pointed his staff out at us and waved it menacingly "Stars?! Yeah, I'll make YOU see stars punk!! Hey. HEY! What the heck are YOU looking at?! Yeah, girafarig, you just keep walkin', that's right RUN AWAY _PUNK_! You want some of this?!" He shook his little fist violently the passing girafarig who gave him a worried look and went on his way. The girl ignored this, I suspected that she was used to things like this by now, and kneeled down to pet the mewoth, who gladly accepted the attention. "And this is Namir, he's been with me a really long time, since I was about seven, that's ten years. It's a bit odd he hasn't evolved yet, but I like him the way he is" Namir seemed to agree. "That's great Robin, I like my first pokemon the way he is too." Jaylen whistled and soon the biscuit stuffed face of a growlithe appeared beside him "This is Thakur" Robin grinned and scratched the growlithe behind the ears , and he showed his thanks by letting out his long tongue (still littered with the remains of biscuit) and panting in her face happily. He also seemed to have gotten a bit fatter. "I'm glad he's more friendly than your other pokemon" "Well, that's not all of them, my other one's sleeping in our room right now, still really young." Robin nodded and led him off to the main deck, talking about something or other as I was again pressed against my "keeper's" chest, so he had a free hand. 

I suddenly noticed that the salty smell was on the deck before was slowly being replaced by the smell of smoked fish and sand and grass. I guessed we had nearly approached this "Honen" Aft mentioned earlier. I sighed and closed my eyes. 

__

Well, at least it can't possibly be worse than this stupid boat. The waves crashed against the ferry's side and a large splash of water flew up in my face. _I hope. _


	6. Season of the City

Here I am again. I'll bet you're waiting for a pokemon battle by now, right? Well- you're going to have to wait. For a battle with Ozaki in it anyway. But it's coming the next chapter, and then the story's plot unfolds (sorta….) promise! School's also started on Monday…so I'm going to have chapters up later than normal…or sooner. I tend to write faster if I write it by hand at school (while we're supposed to be going over Chemistry ^_0) 

KEY

"blah" - speech (pokemon and human speech are written the same way)

__

'blah' - thought

__

blah - telepathy 

(AN: blah)- author's note

~~~~~~- time passes

__

"There are roads which must not be followed, armies which must be not attacked, towns which must be besieged, positions which must not be contested, commands of the sovereign which must not be obeyed."- Sun Tzu; The Art of War

As I slept our small group traveled onward into the town where we arrived and traveled onward, I did not know where, nor did I really care, but by the time I awoke (half-awake, really. Still partly dreaming of a river of sushi) the smells of the sea were long gone and the scent of grass, water and metal of various bicycles were in the air. The luxury ball expanded and I was introduced to a large long plastic tarp spread out on the grass under a willow tree near a very small pond/fountain occupied with a small colony of magikarp and two goldeen. Looking across the grass, I could see the tall buildings of concrete and stone not that far across from where we sat cut off by a tall black metal fence. Thakur searched eagerly in a berry bush as Tani and an eevee that I suspected belonged to Robin tumbled in a random patch of leaves a short distance away from Jaylen who was busy trying to keep track of them all. The meowth Namir stretched out long on a tree branch above my head, tapping his lengthy tail on the bark. He was staring at me boredly with his half closed slit eyes, the scar on his right one shone dimly in the noonday sun, as if he was looking at something that mildly sparked his interest, but not my much; as if he were observing a weedle. I gladly returned the look. 

"You" he said after a long time "are quite different."

"Shall I take that as a compliment or an insult?"

He shrugged "Take it however you wish."

"You are quite different yourself."

"Is that right?"

"It is"

"Interesting"

"Really. You don't seem as such from where I'm standing"

Namir cocked his head and gave me a long smile eerily similar to that of a sharpedo. "Perhaps…… you need to stand somewhere else then, young eevee-lution"

I tapped the tip of my tail on the grass speculating if he was being blatantly honest or trying to play with my head.

I scowled at him. 

"Did you know you can be a very infuriating pokemon?"

Namir's ribs shook lightly as he chuckled in amusement. "What, and you aren't, young umbreon?"

"Possibly." I said. "And I would prefer it if you did not refer to me as if I were a youngling. I'm fully grown, you know"

"Hmm."

"So, meowth you've nothing else to say to me?"

"Not at the moment. But don't fret child, I'll think of something soon enough." With that the meowth vanished into the confines of his pokeball. 

At that time Robin arrived with two paper bags, containing their lunch, tossed one to my keeper and took her place beside him. 

__

"Did you know" said Robin between bites of a bacon sandwich "that Team Rocket caught a baby lugia?" Jaylen suddenly looked up from his grilled cheese sandwich on toast, as did I, with a fast beating heart. I did not know who or what this "Team Rocket" was, but I knew it was impossible for a human to catch a legend like lugia. A mortal human anyway. Everyone knew that. Even _Thakur _knew that, you just couldn't catch legendaries, they were legends after all, gods, they represented anything and everything found on the planet, from plants, to the sea, to volcanoes, to the sky, to the storms and the very creation of we, the pokemon ourselves. For a human to catch lugia…..it would mean that truly _none _of us were free anymore, for they were the incarnates freedom themselves. They were gods. You just can't **CATCH gods**, no matter who you are. That's just the way it was, and what I held to be true. I shuddered. But then again…….being free to live as I pleased and pokemon did not enjoy wearing human garments at will used to be what I held to be true as well. 

So I pricked my ears and I listened.

"Really?" Jaylen inquired (with a mouth full of grilled cheese) "when did that happen?" He took my ball into his hand and began to expand and contract it idly. I wished he'd stop, it was making me anxious and sick to my stomach. "Yep!" was the answer "Just last week. It's a really little one and a scientist is planning to do some kind of experiments on it I think" I could hear my captor crush his soda can in either frustration or anger, I couldn't really tell. "What?! They can't do that, it's only a baby! Who knows what those nut jobs will do to it!" "Well, that's what the article said, Jay. Straight from the_ Ditto's Duplicate. _What's more, Team Rocket also plans to-" 

Robin's voice was cut off by the sound of my keeper's laugher. "Robin, you can't honestly _believe_ anything that paper prints out, can you? I mean, all they spit out is idle rumors and made up stories. Remember the one that said Lorelei was really a lonely ditto in disguise? Or the one where Erika supposedly got her gloom from aliens?" He began to laugh again as his comrade began to grumble. 

I breathed a long sigh rested my head on my paws. So it wasn't true after all. Good. I yawned and entered the luxury ball to finish the nap I started earlier. Very good. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Out of nowhere the ball suddenly jolted, expanded and was thrown before I even opened my eyes! I snapped to attention, twisting in the air and landed on my feet onto a rock. I shook my head and looked around trying to figure out what in the hells just happened. My paws touched a small pool of rain water held by a large hole in the ground, looking down a confused reflection of an umbreon stared back up at me. Were we taking another break already? Looking up I saw Robin, Namir on her shoulder, and an excited raichu in front of me. Behind was Jaylen, holding the luxury ball high in his hand, with Thakur by his side and a knocked out Tani sprawled out near his feet. We were in the middle of a concrete path in the midst of a din of car horns, smog, and the continuous clamor of human voices all talking at once in their strange tongue. Around us stood scattered random people, pausing in whatever affair they were performing to stare at us. I blinked at all of this in bewilderment. 

Jaylen smirked confidently "You may have beaten my jumpluff, but there's no way you're beatin' this! Robin returned the look with a shark-like grin "We'll see, kid. Vitani!" The raichu crouched on all fours, long whip tail lashing in the air "Thunder punch!" the girl yelled. The raichu rushed forward with a loud "Raiiiiiiiiiiiich_!" _It was said fast and sort of mumbled as she came, but I knew a battle cry when I heard one. As the great paw came, gold electrical energy pulsating, I quickly stepped away, just as powerful volts shot out of her paw, sending the powerful attack into the ground. My keeper grinned wide "Sorry, Robin. Way too slow. Ozaki! Faint attack!" I twitched my ears and gave Jaylen a half-lidded stare. "You. Have. **GOT** to be kidding." My tail flipped in insult. I'd been awakened from my sleep only to be shoved in a battle with a pokemon I never met, I had no possible quarrel with, and apparently the only reason to fight at all was because the humans wished it so. 

Well, I wasn't having any of it. I may have been dragged out of my home, I may have sat on that stupid boat, I might have endured the madness that occurred ON that stupid boat, but I certainly would _not_ do this. Not for him. Not for _anyone. _So I scratched my ear and strolled off towards a shady spot to finish the dream about the sushi. 

Jaylen blinked, dumbstruck. "Hey! Ozaki, where are you going? You've got a battle to win! C'mon back and give it a faint attack!" I curled up on the sun-warm concrete and gave him my best "You-really-_are_-a-complete-fool-aren't-you?" stare. 

Thakur was shocked, much more so than his trainer with wide eyes and a gaping jaw of raw disbelief. The raichu cocked her head feebly at her trainer mumbling"…So what exactly am I supposed to do **now**?" 

Scattered snickers came from the various onlookers. 

Robin sighed and shook her head ruefully. "I thought as much. That umbreon's really poorly trained, if at all. Plus the level's way too high for someone with your experience, just _how_ many badges did you say you had?" Jaylen shuffled a gray sneaker in the grass. "'Bout…two." he said in a rather small voice. Robin nodded in smug confirmation. Namir smirked. Thakur flattened his ears and let a threatening growl escape from his throat at his keeper's embarrassment. By the ancient laws of the growlithe, houndour and all pack-beasts like them are fiercely loyal towards their pack leader, in this case Jaylen, and thus take it upon themselves to defend their honor, good name, etcetera when it has been tarnished. Thakur was certainly no exception. He placed himself standing in front his trainer, chest puffed out, fur raised angrily, and fangs clenched in a fearsome determined snarl. There was fire blazing madly in his wrathful eyes. Thakur lowered his head and bared his sharp fangs in challenge at Namir. 

I brought my head up to look at him. This could certainly prove to be most interesting. 

The meowth on Robin's shoulder yawned, uninterested "You" he scoffed "Are not worth my time, pup". Thakur dignified that response by showing even more fang, so the pink of his gums glinted in the city's afternoon sun. Jaylen went down on one knee and looked his pokemon in the eye "You sure you want this?" A curt nod was his response. Robin lifted an eyebrow "Do you honestly think that puppy stands a chance against my _Namir_?" Jaylen scowled "Yeah, as a matter of fact, I do. Thakur may not be as old or as skilled as your pokemon, but he more than makes up for that, 'cuz he's got heart!" "Well as nice an' pretty as your little theory sounds, I'm afraid it's really more suited for an after school special than an actual battle. Kid, you've got a lot to learn about the world of pokemon" Robin blew hair from her eyes "and I'll be more than happy to teach you just how unforgiving that world can be! Namir!"

The tranquil, bored, smug meowth on the girl's shoulder suddenly turned into a ruthless bloodthirsty, (still) smug demon as he flew from his mistress' shoulder to the earth. The calm, sarcastic Namir had vanished, what stood before Thakur now was truly a ruthless force to be reckoned with, one that I was positive the growlithe did not understand in his blind rage. 

"Namir, let's start this off with Scratch attack!" 

If anyone had blinked they surely would have missed the tan blur sweep around the his opponent, because the next thing everyone knew Thakur was wincing at ten long bleeding rakes along his back. He started to look surprised, but it was quickly overruled by a tight snarl. "Thakur, Tackle!" A rush of red fur caught the meowth by surprise as he slammed his furry bulk onto the surprised pokemon. Namir twisted his way from being crushed to onto the growlithe's head. "Bite 'em Namir!" "Don' let 'em trick ya again buddy, throw 'im off an' use Flamethrower!" Pearl fangs cut into red fur as Thakur leaped into the air like a wild bucking tauros in an attempt to shake the meowth's vice-like grip. The growlithe suddenly jumped and twisted onto the concrete , I suppose that helped loosen the grip because the next second Namir was in the air with a great burning inferno swirling around him. 

He quickly landed on his feet, burnt paws spread out, whiskers more that a little singed. He looked somewhere between mortified, astonished and enraged. Thakur shook his head trying to rid himself of the pain where his ear was bitten. 

Robin blinked in surprise. "Well. The pup's got some skills after all." Jaylen smirked "I told ya. Maybe you underestimated Tahkur an' me." Namir's trainer narrowed her eyes. "First of all, it's 'Thakur and _I_" Second of all, I admit that I may have…..misjudged a bit. But no more. Namir, give that mongrel your best Quick Attack!" "No, you don't! Thakur, Fire Spin!" In a flash tan fur struck red just before a wall of flames surrounded them both. Robin scowled disappointedly. "Ah well, that's not gonna stop us. Namir, Dig!" 

My ears pricked. Did she say "**_dig?!_**"

Namir disappeared under the earth, only to resurface and clash with a very surprised growlithe. The fire spin vanished as Thakur fell head over tail into a gated tree. (What kind of idiot puts a _fence_ around a _tree_, anyway?) He had a very surprised look on his face. "What- on- how- but-" he breathed. Namir stretched his head to the sky and cackled "Didn't I tell you, puppy? Ya ain't worth my time." "I was good enough to give you those burns on your feet, wasn't I?" "Maybe." Namir curled his tail over his head confidently "but that's as far as it goes." 

"Thakur, give 'im another Flamethrower! Knock him off his feet" 

This time the normal-type was ready for him "Counter!" An invisible shield sprung up, flinging the fire attack well away from the meowth and crashing right into Thakur. Jaylen was right about one thing, the target WAS knocked off his feet. Just the wrong one. But he was a tough pup, already back on his feet. He was crouching, he was panting up a storm, and he was injured, but he was standing. The fire still hadn't left his eyes. 

Namir scowled. "Odd, that should've ended this. No matter." He quickly dug his claws into a nearby tree, climbing to the highest limb staring down at small red dot below him. As he jumped, he and his trainer called out the attack in unison "_Thunder_!" As he witness the rush of electrical energy speeding mercilessly toward him, Thakur and Jaylen also suddenly spoke in unison "Fire Blast!" 

The two attack collided with each other, a vivid display of red, orange and gold entwined together in a dazzling explosion colliding with both opponents simultaneously. 

The crowd gasped and leaned forward to see which pokemon was still standing. I was curious as well. As the dust cleared, two battlers still stood, glaring at one another. Their knees crumpled, and they both fell to the sidewalk. I blinked in surprise. A tie. How 'bout that. I had to admit, it was a fine battle, and a surpirsing one at that. Just how in the hells did a mewoth manage to learn attacks like Dig, Counter, and Thunder anyway?

As Jaylen and Robin rushed forward to examine the weary fighters, I heard a light distant sound being carried on the wind. I strained to filter it out from the racket of the battle. It sounded- like…a howl… or maybe singing… 

Whatever it was, I soon discovered my feet moving to it's direction., out from the sidewalk and into the allies of the dusty alien city. 


	7. Rustburo Calling

AN: Well, here we are again. This one came it pretty late and…well, you'll have to get used to it. Due to grades I'm not exactly proud of, I can only write on the weekends _. So no one yell at me to hurry up, I'm doin' the best I can. I split chapter 7 in two, since the whole thing would've been hella long to read, so I decided it would be better to let you see what I have so far instead of making you wait another two weeks for the second part. This is also why (in my oponion) this chapter's so short and kinda boring, but hang in there, it'll get better soon. So....here ya go, poke-fans. Enjoy.

KEY

"blah" - speech (pokemon and human speech are written the same way)

__

'blah' - thought

__

blah - telepathy 

(AN: blah)- author's note

~~~~~~- time passes

__

"London calling 

To the underworld

Come outta the cupboard

You boys and girls"- London Calling; The Clash

When I was very young, I remember sitting outside the den and staring up at the rain as it poured down from the heavens. I'd been fascinated by it, hundreds of tiny drops of water, like miniscule diamond fairies diving towards the earth, exploding with a tiny plop as it hit, sliding down tree branches and tree trunks, weaving clear wet trail behind them as they slowly slid down to the grass. I loved the smell of rain, and the way the droplets clung on to leaves like tiny beads of glass and blades of grass and the many puddles left in the rain's wake. When the moon (or sun) appeared, shining down upon the world, the puddles and droplets would glisten, twinkle and shine as if the universe was turned into a magical realm of wonderment. I remember sitting out in the middle of thunderstorms, my muscles rippling with excitement as the rolling thunder pulsed through them. The lighting flashing intensely and for a brief moment bathing the world in light, and reflected in my eyes. The wind blowing violently whistling through the foliage, tossing leaves and other debris about in the air like playthings, and making my fur fly out behind me, and I had the appearance of a dun jolteon. I loved to throw my head back and howl with the wind, the two sounds merging as one sailing off into the sky. My mother, of course was never really ecstatic my sitting out in the middle of a storm, afraid I'd be struck my lightning, get squashed by a falling tree, catch cold from the rain, you know how mothers can be. I did, indeed fall ill after sitting in storms, I once nearly died from it, but I always felt it was worth it. The fury of the tempest, it's calm, it's freedom, it's bitter expression of all the wild emotions of the heart…yes, I still think it was worth it.

I now found myself adoring the wild nature of the tempest as I had years before in the damp streets of Rustburo City. I stood edged forward; ears and tail erect, and paws spread apart to soak in the storm and the water slide in waving wet patterns in my pelt . My rings glowed passionately and reflected gaily in the many puddles forming around me. Tempests in the city were a bit different than in the fields and forests, but not much. Raindrops splattered against concrete and stone and slid down windows, so that the interior looked wavy and distorted. Bright headlights cut through the darkness and threw walls of fallen precipitation high into the air and I laughed playfully as they came down again upon me. This seemed to awaken a sleeping apparition of chaos and foolery within myself as I suddenly took off in a blur of ebony and flashing gold, jumping in random puddles, running in circles, sprinting across parked cars, and weaving expertly around the legs of tables of an outside restaurant. All was dark, all was wild, and all was embraced in the chaotic freedom of the storm. Out of breath I paused looking up with mad eyes of passion, threw my head back to the clouds and howled a message of ecstasy to the skies as the message of the tempest became clear to me. For the first time since the butterfree evolution, I was truly happy, but more importantly I had seen hide nor hair of Jaylen, or any human since the storm began. I was free at last, and the night finally belonged to me., and me alone. I was the only creature about in this paradise, why, I have no idea, but I was not about to question a good thing. 

As I dashed through this new foreign city engulfed by thunder and rain, it became clear to me that this place seemed more and more like a forest, in spite of it's soulless concrete exterior, there was a pulsing energy that flowed through it, like a river. And I liked it. The howling sound rang out in the storm, long and mournful. Waves of water sprung into the air as I made haste towards it. Something was calling me, something was waiting for me, and from the feel of it, it had been waiting for a long time. It was what led me into this city, into the storm in the first place, I would not be basking in the glorious waywardness of the storm, if not for that song. It called, and I planned to answer it. 

~~~~~~

A dank alleyway spread out before me, long and winding, like the seviper thing I'd heard mentioned earlier. It didn't look like much. Just a long strip of dark nestled between some sort of museum and a second rate café with a few cardboard boxes strewn about and an old copy of _Pokemon Pal_. My ears drooped in disappointment, making the last raindrops slide down my head like little waterfalls. I'd been expecting some sort of secret dark portal-type thing leading, to a secret underground pokemon meeting, something like that. I supposed that wasn't too likely anyhow. Still, this was definitely the place, the song was definitely loudest here, and I could feel the presence of an other pokemon in my gut. Cautiously I padded into the ally, not sure exactly what to expect. Nothing seemed very different from inside here, only darker. "Err…. Hello? Someone in here?" I suppose it was a pretty stupid thing to say, but well, it was all I could think of, so sue me. "Well? Anyone going o answer m-ack!" Something plunged itself into my side sharply, knocking me to on my back, and stood on top of me, so my head was stuck pointing to the sky and feet were wiggling in the air, and a back paw poked something in the nose. 

Alright, so that obviously proved someone was obviously in here, and they were crushing my spleen. Well, not being one to just let her spleen get squished, I retaliated. With both my back legs I punched the attacker in the muzzle and flipped right-side-up into a fighting stance. The pokemon yelped in shock and jumped back before rushing towards me with a quick attack yelling out a battle cry in some foreign language. The wind whipped under me as I dodged the rush of yellow fur, and ducked as claws came rushing towards my face. I jumped onto a cardboard box and sent out a shadowball attack hurling towards the pokemon. It yelped as the attack slammed it into a wall, and I came crashing down upon it, pinning the wiggling pokemon to the ground. Not that it wasn't zipping around, I finally could get a look at my attacker. She looked a lot like an eeveelution, but certainly not one I'd ever seen. A light violet ruff surrounded her neck, and a plume of the same color adorned her neck. The ears were long and wide adorned with two little hoop earrings from which small pokeball symbols dangled. Her paws looked small and the entire body structure looked similar to both that of an espeon and a persian covered by rich light gold fur now covered in mud and city dust. From the smell, it was clearly a normal type. Was this some sort of new normal-type eeveelution I'd never heard of? The pokemon glared up at me with angry jet black eyes as she began to screech. "Kraaaahhhhh!! Vile servant of th' sea! Dark child of Absol! Ye better b be releasin' me at once or face a fate far worse than death!" I regarded her coolly. "Pardon my inquiry don't exactly see how you plan to do that flat on your back." 

The pokemon's golden fur bristled in outrage "Don' be playin' games wit me, sea servant! If ye don' plan t'releace me, den don' go playin' yer mind games on Java Lightpaws! Jus' kill me an' be done wit it, go on, ye slitherin' seviper of the seas! I'm not afraid! There'll be others after me, an' others after them, an' others…" I stared blankly at her. What in the name of Celebi was this creature yammering on about? And why did she keep associating me with the ocean? "An' don' be thinking' that we'll stop there! We'll fight ye in the deserts, in the sewers, in the streets, in th-" Her speech was halted by my paw clamping over her mouth. "I'm sure that would be a very noble death speech. If you were going to die, that is. Now if you're finished, I'll let you up. But try and attack be again, and you won't have time to give a speech before I really do hurt you. " The pokemon stared in astonishment as she stood again eyeing me suspiciously. "What d'ye mean by that?" "What it sounds like." "An' yer not gonna be killin' me?" "Not unless you tick me off again." The pokemon's face was a picture of bewilderment. "What?! But… Kyrogites _always_ slay their captives. Unless ye plan t'capture me an' take me back t'yer seas base! Well, I'll tell ye what, I'm not gonna talk, not ever if ye torture me, ye'll never get nothin' outta Java Lightpaws, no ma'am!" "A _what_? I've no idea what a 'Kyrogite' is, but I'm not one. And why do you keep talking about the sea? And what ARE you anyway?" The pokemon blinked. "You…aren't a Kyrogite? Not a vile agent of the sea, servant to Kyroge?" "That's what I said, isn't it?" "Then now come ye smell like th' sea? Answer me that!" "Because I just came from a boat, I only arrived here this morning, from the Jhoto region." "Jhoto eh? That makes sense Is'pose. But then why'd ye attack me then?!" "Because a certain someone attacked me first, moron. Now, would you mind telling me what sorta eeveelution you are?" The pokemon blinked "Eeveelution? Me? I'm no eeveelution, we've got none Rustburo, excludin' th' young'un an' you of course." "Then..what are you?" "Why ain't it obvious?" the pokemon puffed out her golden chest and made the fur not covered in grime and mud glisten in the moonlight "I'm a delcatty!" "Ah." I said, as if that suddenly cleared up everything. Which it didn't. The delcatty suddenly noticed her dirty fur and began to thoroughly clean it, seeing as how she no longer viewed me as a threat. "So why ye here anyways? Lookin' fer something' in particular or jus' trouble?" I shrugged coolly "Dunno, Java. Maybe both." The delcatty stopped washing in mid-lick and stared in amazement ""How'd ye be knowin' me name?" "You already said it twice." "Don' be getting' smart wit me, lil' miss darkness" I grinned at her "Or _what_, Madam Lightpaws? You'll give me the same thrashing you gave before? Oh be still be heart,, not another one!" Java glared icily, golden fur bristling with embarrassment and irritation. I responded with the calm smile I'd learned from Namir, which not surprisingly enraged her further. She began to say something, but her voice was cut off by a sharp whistling noise. Java turned away to a spot high in the shadows. Normal pokemon or human eyes would have seen nothing but a blot of darkness, but I could easily make out a taillow perched on a renegade brick sticking out of the café building. Java's eyes widened as the little pokemon twittered it's coded message of whistles and chirps, the delcatty's face looking more and more unhappy as it did so. "But…but…but- you-…._she_…an'..but…you can' POSSIBLY-" The taillow soured it's expression to the tone of which made it clear the subject was closed. Java hung her head in defeat "You're…presence has been…requested. Grrrr.. Follow me" She spoke as if every word was acid in her mouth. She turned, plumed tail swishing behind her and strolled to a tarp covering the open end of a fallen over trash can. The taillow nodded at me. Well, there was really nothing else better to do. I followed.

~~~~~~


	8. Waiting in the Dark

AN: Hello, all. Told ya I'd be back didn't I? Well, it seems to be that time of year again..the holidays. *waves lil flag* whee. Although by the time you read this it'll probably be well into the new year, and if that's indeed the case (which I'm sure it is) then happy 2004 everybody! W00T! Also..I've come down with a bad case of the writer's block, so this chappy's not that great...and it's a filler. So no one yell at me, k? The next chapter should prove to be much better, I've got plans. Oh such plans! *laughs maniacally* 

KEY

"blah" - speech (pokemon and human speech are written the same way)

__

'blah' - thought

__

blah - telepathy 

(AN: blah)- author's note

~~~~~~- time passes

"And now we stand here face to face, isn't this world a crazy place?"- Save the Best for Last

Anyone who's been paying attention to my story so far knows by now that when things happen to me, chances are, they don't exactly turn out very happy. If you don't know, then you either haven't been paying attention or have a very bad memory. But, for once this turn of events didn't seem too bad. Emphasis on _seem_. Any gyarados can hide in a pond and make it's mouth a cave. (Alright, so I'm not an expert on analogy. I'm an umbreon, not a poet. Give me a break.) 

This particular cave, however took the guise of a station housing wild (at least I _assumed_ they were wild) pokemon. Inside a cold room of human building that looked abandoned (by humans anyway) was the greatest collection of urban pokemon I'd set my eyes upon, of all types, breeds, names and colors. It was a larger, and somewhat stranger display of pokemon that I'd seen on the ferry to Honen. They were all fast asleep curled up on the floor, on tables, and in little cubbies in the wall. Honestly, the place was giving me the creeps. It was too similar to the Pokemon center I woke up to a few days ago. It had the same floors, same walls, same cold tables. The smell wasn't exactly the same, but it was too close for comfort for my taste. From what I could piece together from the taillow who led me here, I'd been summoned for some reason by someone by the name of Ordalphus, and apparently I didn't have much time in coming to meet him, seeing as how the taillow was so anxious to get me here. Although, by now I figured this "Ordalphus" was taking his sweet time because I'd been sitting on this stupid pillow in the dark for what felt like an eternity. 

I'd been summoned in the middle of the night, and from the looks of things I wouldn't meet this pokemon I was supposed to meet until morning.

For the fifth time tonight I took another look around at my fellow roommates, easily visible by the light of a coughing vulpix (who tend to spew out little embers when coughing). Scales, feathers, skin and fur nestled comfortably in the sweet embrace of sleep on the linoleum floor. If only this insomniac could join them. The boredom of consciousness was driving me mad. 

I sighed impatiently and rolled over on my back and began the task of counting all the little tiles on the ceiling . I was at 279 when a little poochena face appeared staring into my own. His reddish nose hovered just inches from my forehead, and besides breathing rather loudly in my face he remained silent. He was beginning to creep me out. And that's saying a lot coming from me. 

"So, are you going to stand there and exhale in my face?"

He sniffed my face curiously "You're awake!"

" I couldn't be staring you in the face and talking to you if I was." I sighed. It was becoming obvious to me that this kid wasn't planning on leaving anytime soon. But I suppose it was better than counting tiles. Check that, ANYTHING was better than counting tiles. I came down from the pillow to sit next to him. 

"Any particular reason you came to breathe in my face, ink blot?"

The poochena cock his head to one side in a bewildered, cutesy way "Ink blot?"

"Yeah. It's something we called little dark types back where I come from. We've names for all the types.. Squirt for water, ashling for fire, sprout for grass, and so forth"

"Oh. Where do you come from, then?"

"Jhoto"

He rolled his eyes "Oh, _that's_ a lot o' help"

"It's across the ocean."

The youngling wrinkled up his nose in a disgusted sort of way. "The ocean? That must have been _terrible_!" 

You have _no_ idea, kid. 

"I mean, to sail in th' midst of Kyrogite territory! I'd never do it. At least, not unless it was really necessary, like takin' down a Kyrogite's base, or a rescue." An excited dreamy look appeared in his yellow eyes.

There was that word again. "What in the name of Mew is a Kyrogite anyway? First that Java character accuses me of being one, and now this." 

The poochena cocked his fluffy head "You mean you don't know? Wow, you really are new. Practically everyone's around here know of the Kyrogites and Groudonates. You've at least heard of teams Magma and Aqua, right?"

"Nope. But there's something called "Team Rocket", I think. I don't know what that is, though. Are you going to explain this to me or not?"

"Well, I've only been here a couple of moths, I can't exactly explain it very well, but I know the Kyrogites are really bad an' we're tryin' to stop 'em."

"Why?"

"Why? Hmm. Never asked, really. Ordalphus really seems to believe in our cause, though, an' he's really smart, so he must know what he's doin'.

"If…you say so, inkblot" 

"Anyway, Kyrogites work for Aqua, an' , an' helping' Team Magma t'stop Aqua from takin' over th' world-"

"Taking over world?" I repeated. Sounded like a tired plot from one of those old cheesy comics trainers left behind in my thicket all the time. 

"Well…that's basically what he means. That's all they'll tell me."

"I **see**…." 

Inkblot scowled at me "No, you don't." A weird forlorn look crossed his face "Lemmie guess, you don' believe me an' think I'm crazy, right?"

"Inkblot, after what I've seen in the past week I've decided the entire WORLD is crazy. But then, my father always said a surefire way to tell if someone's insane is if they think they're sane and everyone else isn't. So…if you think you aren't crazy, but the rest of the world's crazy than you're the one that's nuts. But if you think sometimes that you ARE crazy, but not..or is it the other way around?"

"What?" 

"Oh…I forget. Sometimes I just don't know what in the name of shade I'm talking about. And this smell's messing with my head."

The inkblot grinned "Heh, you're funny. I'm Tikatt, by th' way." he said. I think we both had a feeling the "inkblot" nickname would stick, though. But everyone keeps callin' me Tik, like the bug. I don' think they like dark types around here that much. You an' me are th' only ones here. I think they just have to get used to us. It's mostly rock, ground, steel and fire types here, along with a few flying, electric, psychic and normals But Ordalphus says we really need more electrics." 

"That's it?"

"Some others, poison and bug used to be with us too, but they left. Some joined the Kyrogites, which is why they tell us not to associate with 'em anymore. And the other dark types and ghosts won't join us _or_ the Kyrogites. I don't know why, but I think that might be why the others don't like me very much."

That was no surprise. Most Pokemon, especially urban and trained pokemon, didn't like darks or ghosts very much. Beliefs about being spawn of darkness and evil had been around for eons, which came about because we aren't very…sociable creatures. That and the whole attacking trespassers thing. They used to tell young eevee trainers to only let their pokemon out in the day or to use a stone on it quick as they could, lest it transformed into the "evil eeveelution" that was supposed to eat pokemon eggs and murder children in the middle of the night. Where THAT part came from I'll never know, but the way I see it some idiot mixed up my kind with the sneasel (which eat pidgey eggs, don'cha know. Not like that's bad either. If the pidgey don't want their eggs to be omelets than they shouldn't leave them out in the open like that. It's common sense.) 

"But where did ye come from? You just arrived today on a ferry, right?"

"Indeed. On some ferry that came in this morning." A look of scorn crossed my face "With my 'trainer'" The word was like acid in my mouth.

The inkblot's eyes grew round, yellow eyes shining with spellbound fascination "Ohhhhhhh, Did ye get separated from yer trainer?"

"you could say that. But really, I just decided to explore the city on my own"

"_By yerself_?"

"Of course, I've gotten along just fine all these years on my own, haven't I? I need no trainer to tell me what I can and can't do. I wanted to explore, so I left."

"Ye mean ye ran away, Ozaki?"

"Yeah." 

"You goin' back?"

"If I feel like it."

"Wow. Was…was your trainer mean t'you?"

I shrugged "I could've gotten worse. The kid knows how to pick out a good name anyway" Tikatt sighed and stared down at his paws dejectedly "I used t'have a trainer once too, but he wasn't very nice. It wasn't his fault though, we battled a lot, a whole lot, but I kept loosing all the time. The only time I didn't lose a match was with a wormple, but anyone can beat them. I didn't _mean_ too. I tried to be stronger, I really did. But I just wasn't good enough, so he yelled a lot kept me in the poke ball all the time and got poke chow instead of the good stuff his stronger pokemon got. But it really wasn't his fault, I know I should've been stronger but somehow I just couldn't. I don't know why. Anyway, one day, my trainer stopped by Rustburo t'look at shops an' stuff. She let me out of my poke ball and told me to leave right then and not come back 'till I was a pokemon worth having. So, here I am. I came to learn how t'be strong, like Ordalphus is. But so far, I haven't made much progress an' everyone looks at me funny when they see me." 

Inkblot shook dust off his fluffy gray head, as if could shake out the memories out with it. He noticed the concerned look I was giving him and wagged his tail, smiling. "Bt that don't bother me. 'Cause after I'm done here I'm gonna be the very best like no one ever was!" 

I licked my muzzle thoughtfully "like no one ever was… where'd I hear that before?"

Tikatt shrugged "I dunno. Heard it on some show once."

The vulpix behind me suddenly began to cough violently, spewing fiery hot coals all over the floor, which got into the fur of a zigzagoon that panicked and began running in frightened circles and screaming it's head off. In the distance pawsteps could be heard rushing towards us, no doubt to see what the screaming was all about. A chuckle shook my sides. Maybe this place was creepy, but it had it's moments. I turned to ask Tikatt what he thought of the incident, but he was already dashing off in the opposite direction. Weird. I decided not to think on it and went back to the flaming zigzagoon. The taillow from before, a girafarig that looked very familiar, and an aron rushed to the scene, apparently to help. 

Not that anything they did was anything close to helping; if anything they made things worse. The taillow flapped it's wings madly in an effort to extinguish the flames and succeeded in making them worse, so that now they roared across the zigzagoon's back, so that the flames spread even more and ran into a very shocked taillow. Now both of them were ablaze, one panicking in circles by land, one panicking by air and still not doing anything to help the situation. The aron tried to stomp out the flames (the ones on the ground, anyway), and the shining metal that covered it's body turned a glowing red, overheated from the blaze and huddled in a corner whimpering. As for the girafarig, it saw the fire could be more easily spread my air and desperately tried to bat the fluttering frightened inferno out of the air. For once, the effort was a success- in a sense. The taillow was indeed batted out of the air, but somehow I doubted the taillow's being slammed into the wall, (extinguishing the flaming feathers) and leaving a charred blot against the smooth white wall was part of the plan. 

At that point a very agitated looking pokemon- the oddest I've ever seen, it looked like a living, floating sun stone- rushed in and with a blast of psychic energy lifted a pile of dust and dumped it on the zigzagoon, smothering the flaming pokemon. It made an unhappy sound, glared and floated off elsewhere to do whatever strange sun-tone shaped things do. The aron made a sad sound and followed it, still glowing a warm red. The charred tailow blinked sooty eyes and slid on the cool linoleum, leaving a bird-shaped imprint on the plaster and coughed up a little cloud of smoke. Then it sighed and collapsed against a, equally charred zigzagoon. As for the vulpix, as to whom the entire charade was caused, it cleared it's throat nervously and walked away like nothing happened. 

A huge white fanged grin spread across my face and I burst out laughing. Maybe it was mean spirited, it may have been cruel and insensitive, it may have been rude, but more importantly besides all of that it was hilarious. The girafarig gave me a nasty look and hobbled off toward it's companions. 

I shook my head in amusement. Perhaps this place had some good points after all. I sighed and rested against the pillow once more listening to the distant sounds of bedlam few rooms down. I smiled a cunning little smile as sleep finally began to set in. Maybe I wasn't an insomniac after all, perhaps all I needed was a little chaos. 


	9. Ordalphus and Four More

AN: 

Before we get started, I'll just say this chapter's pretty short, since I split it in half, since it may take a while to finish the second half (I'm banned from the computer except for on Saturdays _)

*looking over the reviews* Wow! I've gotten so much feedback! And you like the story, you really like it! ^____^ *full of happy juice* I think this is the most I've ever gotten, actually. It look like what's keeping you reading is Ozaki herself, along with all the other characters…which doesn't surprise me. I tried really hard to match the personality and- I'm getting way ahead of myself here. Anyway…where was I? Anyhoo, I'll also try and keep the paragraphs a little easier to read (it looks a lot different uploaded than it does on Word), I know how frustrating it can be. (and the headaches it causes! _o) So…in short, thanks a lot for reading, and stay with us, there's still a lot of ground to cross! 

KEY

"blah" - speech (pokemon and human speech are written the same way)

__

'blah' - thought

__

blah - telepathy 

(AN: blah)- author's note

~~~~~~- time passes

"Are you taking over

Or are you taking orders?

Are you going backwards

Or are you going forwards?" - White Riot_; The Clash_

Ever had a dream that kept coming back each and every night? Mine was always the one about frolicking in sushi, miles upon miles of sushi. Then after what feels like hours of frolicking, I start to eat, and of course that's when I wake up. When I do, something bad usually happens, like the time that flock of pidgey attacked my head (I think because there was food in it), or getting captured. So now for me, sushi means my subcon's telling me "wake up you imbecile or prepare for some pain and badness!" The morning after I met the inkblot I felt the soft warmth of the sunrise cascading across my face. I yawned, stretched and awoke with memories of the sushi dream swimming about in my head. '_That can't be good.' _

I looked up to discover a solemn looking geodude floating above my head staring down at me with a stern, steady stone faced expression . His arms were crossed and tapped a finger impatiently, as if he were a teacher waiting for a student to admit they didn't do their homework. 

I scratched an ear and gave him a smug look "Well, good morning mister sunshine." The geodude's frown seemed to sour even more and mumbled to himself. "Ordalphus wishes to see you." he said in a low grumbling voice and led the way. We trekked down a labyrinth of old hallways and tunnels all winding and turning, they seemed to go in endless directions over and over. The smells of linoleum glass and lemony-fresh floors filled the air and fiddled with my sinuses. 

The morning's golden rays were stirring the others around us as we traveled. Fur, skin and scales stretched out and twisted in liquid-like fashions as backs arched to greet the sun and an array of bright feathers shone and glinted in daylight. They were huddled about talking, whispering, gossiping about the events of last night, some pointing a paw or talon in my direction as they whispered in hushed voices and trying to stare without me noticing. But of course, I noticed everything. Their faces were clouded with suspicion and doubt for the newcomer from shadows and darkness, the strange one that said nothing to no one, the one that talked with the other strange darkling with the gray fur, the one who had the nerve to laugh at the events last night, laughing at the flaming frightened pokemon , laughing at their panic, laughing at **them**. All of them. Their collective and different faces all saying everything while saying nothing. I sighed and nipped at an itch on my hind leg casually. Let them think what they want. It was no business of mine if we didn't share the same sense of humor. 

The geodude stopped at a doorway and gestured I should go on in. I poked my head in the room and sniffed cautiously. Nothing smelled or out of place- and the irritating cleaner smell was scarce as well. 

__

'Well, I suppose I've nothing to lose' I strolled in head high and tail erect in the classic confident manner of the umbreon. Ahead I could see the silhouettes of five pokemon in the middle of the large room in a semicircle, all sitting on fancy pillows sitting in the light of the sun that shone down from a skylight, the only source of light in the large room. I stood before all- stood in the shadows of course, out of the direct sunlight. In the blazing light of the sun I regarded the five pokemon curiously, now that I could see them all clearly: a combusken, magneton, zangoose, numel, and gardevoir, all seated comfortably on pillows- satin pillows that shined brightly. Their faces were for the most part, emotionless, but I could sense feeling of excitement coming from them. The figure in the middle- the numel- gave me a soft welcoming smile. To the eyes of the average pokemon, he appeared harmless and more than a little sleepy. But a closer look revealed a pulsing aura of power, importance, and cunning. He had the strong scent of volcanic ash around him, as well as a hot blanket of air that seemed to stream out from inside of him. He was one of those pokemon that can't be judged on looks, or species alone. Immediately I knew who I was face to face with. 

I half smiled at him "Good morrow, Ordalphus." 

He blinked his half-lidded eyes curiously "Who told you what I looked like?"

"No one. It wasn't that hard to figure out. Now, will somebody please inform me as to what in Raiku's name is going on?"

The gardevoir sitting next to Ordalphus put her hands of her hips sourly _"You show some respect! What gives you the right to speak to the great Ordalphus, master of the infernos, commander of light and righteousness, in such a snide manner?"_

"What gives **you **the right to call me from halfway across Rustburo in the rain with your fancy-pants psywave and then keep me waiting all night?" I snapped back.

The gardevoir's face was the very portrait of shock. Obviously, no one had spoken to her in this way before. This got me to wondering just how much influence these five had around here after all. I had a feeling it was a lot, judging by the look of outrage on the psychic's face. 

She glared daggers in my direction, psychic energy going up and down in excitement _"You- you _dare_-?! You cannot address me like that, you insolent darkling_!"

"Hmm. That's odd, seeing as how I just did." 

The gardevoir's sides heaved with pure outrage, emerald hair quivering violently. I was getting the feeling she wanted to blast my head off with a Psywave, and judging by the look in here eyes, she most definitely would if not for the fact it would be useless against me. The zangoose and combustien exchanged amused looks as I flashed her the long eerily smug sharpedo smirk I learned from Namir. The combusken and zangoose to chuckled under their breath. The gardevoir began to say more, but was stopped by a yellow paw.

"Calm yourself, Winterleaf." said Ordalphus. 

At his order, she settled into silence, arms crossed and mumbling grouchily under her breath and sulking on her fancy blue-violet pillow. 

"Now then." said the numel, settling himself on his own pillow of fiery gold and ruby "Before we get down to business, I should think we five should make ourselves known. I, as you know am Ordalphus. The charming creature you spoke with a moment ago is Winterleaf, my consultant" 

Hearing her name, she gave me an ugly sneer and continued sulking. Red eyes rolled in my sockets. Psychics. 

"The fellow to my right" continued the numel "Is Daskar, our most talented battler, strategist and chief of combat tactics, to put it simply." 

The zangoose nodded in greeting, a calm collected gesture. I noticed the scars- fang scar it looked like- on his face sides and neck. Daskar reminded me of the stereotypical action hero: the strong silent muscular fella. Not exactly the lighthearted sort of pokemon, very serious. All the time. As I said- like a stereotypical action hero. I can bet by rings Daskar had a mysterious past to go with him. 

"Beside him" continued Ordalphus, motioning to the combusken "Is Hotstreak the Swift. Captain of air and agility squadron"

Hmm, Hotstreak. Obviously a trained name. To tell you the number of "Firefoots", Blazeclaws", "Deathflames", and "Wildfires" I've seen on forest trails with their trainers (usually battling, taunting, and trying to look cool for their masters at the same time) would take at least five eternities, and _that's_ just the _fire _types. Honestly- the names some humans can come up with! I again found myself grateful the human that caught me at least had the sense to not name me something so idiotic and cliché I'd heard stamped on the other dark-types. Shadow. Midnight. Yuck. 

I shuddered. I mean, really- _Midnight_?! You'd think a species that could make themselves fly and build structures that touched the stars could at least come up with a half decent name. But, then again, I suppose it's better than being referred to as your species alone. At least you get **some **acknowledgement, instead of some guy yelling "Umbreon, go!" But I'm getting way off track here. 

Hotstreak made a little wave with his wing and smiled with a welcoming "How ya doin'?" 

I smiled back at him "Tired, frustrated, and still wondering why exactly I'm here. And I also think miss Winterleaf here could use a few lessons in poise."

The combusken 's smile grew winder (I swear, one day, I'm going to learn exactly how one smiles with a beak) an gave a small chuckle "I'm afraid I can't argue wit ya there."

Ordalphus, somewhat pleased at our smooth encounter, turned to the magneton "And lastly, our master of distant communication, Cy" 

"Cy?" I repeated "As in- Cyprus? Cyber? Cyrus?" 

"Negative" a cold, metallic voice answered "Only Cy" 

Ordalphus rose to his feet majestically, letting the morning sun cascade over his goldenrod skin. The warmth that burned inside all fire types seemed to grow stronger at this sight. I could've sworn the temperature had actually risen a few dozen degrees. "Together, we five are the Flamemasons of the Rustboro district."

I cocked my head "District?"

The other masons directed a rather unfriendly glare at the interruption while their leader continued, as if I had said nothing. 

"We five represent the glorious, the eloquent , the masterful, the righteous, and the magnificent Team Magma!" said the numel proudly. Then he and Hotstreak shot a stream of fire in the air while Daskar and Winterleaf struck poses and Cy shot fancy looking sparks all over the place. Apparently the Flamemasons wasted no time in proving their point in the flashiest, fantastical way as possible. I had to admit, it was nice touch.

"And representing Team Magma" continued proud Ordalphus "We, along with other loyal servants of Team Magma gather new recruits in each and every city in the Honen region. Our sector's the biggest in Honen, excluding the volcanic sector of course." 

I cocked my head to the side "And this Team Magma would be…?"

Hotstreak picked at the fringes of his pillow with his sharp talons as he answered "Why, dear lady the great Team Magma is a group dedicated to the very salvation of the earth! They travel to the ends of the country, to every town, every village, every suburb they find, spreading the message of the awesome Groudon and freedom's fire. They prepare, **we **prepare, for the fateful day Groudon shall arise from the volcanic bowls of the earth and rise to smite the evil one, bringer of torment and torrent Kyogre!"

I blinked at him, not sure what to make of it all. He brought to mind the overly religious pokemon that some times passed through the woods, waving their paws, arms and tentacles shouting at the top of his lungs about Ho-oh and how he was angry at our actions in not being friends with humans. At least I think that's what they were all saying. I usually made the effort of putting as much distance between them and myself as possible. 

To be perfectly honest, overly religious pokemon sort of made me nervous. They seemed….a more than a little off the track, some seemed to have missed track completely and was now heading for the reservoir. 

Now, this combusken was certainly not insane (at least not at first glance), but all this passionate talk about the poke-gods rising up from the earth and such made my dark self more than a little uncomfortable. 

The Firemasons seemed to sense my unease and exchanged what they assumed were secretive, amused glances. Ordalphus gave me a beguiling, undermining smile. A smile that silently, politely laughed at my apparent ignorance, a sad confused little child before the grand and knowledgeable kings. A smile that said I should be grateful to be here and take in everything they had to said happily, no matter how odd it seemed, it was for the best in the end. "We see" he said "that an event of this magnitude may be too much you. Winterleaf will take you for a walk and try to make things seem a little less… overwhelming."

Of course what he really meant was "You're much to stupid and ignorant to possibly understand. And since I my time is wasted on you, I'll make my assistant do it for me and save the headache. 

As if to prove my thoughts correct, the gardevoir eyes bugged out at the suggestion. She looked anxiously from zangoose, magneton, to combusken, to numel in a useless effort to pin the job on someone, _anyone_ but her. 

__

"**_ME_**?!"__ she shrieked 

Ordalphus nodded calmly, as if she were reciting a happy poem "Yes." the look of serene calm hadn't left his face for an instant.

__

"Me?! she repeated _Why can you not make hot streak do it?1 Or Cy, or-"_

"Lady Winterleaf, you know as well as I it is your appointed task to welcome newcomers, you were the one that asked to summon new recruits, and therefore your job. Besides, you were the one that called the darkling in the first place" said Daskar in a subject-is-closed voice. 

Winterleaf put out her arms in exasperation "But...but….but…"

Hotstreak chuckled "the lady Winterleaf sounds like a motorboat"

At this, everyone else (excluding Winterleaf) broke into a grin. 

The angry psychic shot him and I a fuming glare and shuffled grumpily into the corridors, muttering to me something along the lines of "follow me".

As I trailed off after her, the stifled chuckling of Hotstreak followed us. 


	10. The Players and the Played

AN:

waves Hello, again reader peoples!

Glad to see you're still here and have waited so patiently for chapter ten. Sorry this took so long, but I was only typing weekends, then finals, and THEN a 3 week vacation. -- Took forever to start writing again. sigh Even longer to get internet access (**gotta** get a laptop…)

So, without further to do, here's chapter ten of The Suns of Midnight!

(Oh, and pleas note that I've no idea how "Jiragi" is actually spelled, I type it phonetically and from vague memory. I'd appreciate it if someone could tell me if the spelling's right.)

KEY

"blah" - speech (pokemon and human speech are written the same way)

__

'blah' - thought

__

blah - telepathy

(AN: blah)- author's note

- time passes

"You can choose a ready guide

In some celestial voice.

If you choose not to decide

You still have made a choice.

You can choose from phantom fears

And kindness that can kill;

I will choose a path that's clear-

I will choose free will"

- Rush, _Freewill_

As I stepped back into the silvery hallway, I noticed something. It was quiet. And not like that nice tranquil silence, either, I mean _complete **silence**_.

Eerie silence.

Like graveyards.

Like forgotten temples.

Like death.

The place that was once been bursting at the seams with excitement and where you could find untamed energized chatter practically bouncing off the walls wherever you looked was no more. The pokemon were no longer talking. They were not whispering, sleeping, running, walking, chatting, laughing, singing, stretching, complaining, or muttering to themselves as they were before. They did not move. It looked as if they dared not breathe. They did nothing. Nothing except stop in their tracks, dropping whatever they were doing and staring at Winterleaf as she glided gracefully along the smooth linoleum, sunlight shimmering regal brilliance off her emerald hair, carrying herself with the sophistication of an empress. The great number of pokemon stared wide-eyed as she passed with a great passion of awe and agonizing envy as if she were the one that made all of creation. This certainly explained the gardevoir's irate outburst at my sarcasm and pretty much everything else I dared to say in her oh-so-breathtaking-presence. These pokemon acted as if she were a deity, a poke god. It suddenly didn't seem surprising that Winterleaf had adopted such a bloated ego. With attention like this, who wouldn't?

I blinked and snapped myself out of my state of self-deliberation and hurried to catch up with my guide. Out of the corner of my eye I caught the pokemon on the sidelines flash me dirty, spiteful looks and cross their arms with conceited expressions that screamed out arrogant satisfaction that the insolent little dark type had been humbled to a pathetic thing scrambling in the shadows to keep up with the all knowing, all powerful Winterleaf. I have to admit, I must have been looking sort of ridiculous slipping and sliding on the linoleum (hey, it's not MY fault if my paws couldn't get a good grip) trying to keep up with the gliding figure ahead of me. No doubt the onlookers had drawn their own little scenario of the insolent dark one coming face to face with the omnipotent Flamemasons, certainly involving me coming to a overwhelming revelation and humbling myself to the Flamemasons cause, Groudon, and "Team Magma", whatever that was.

Right, maybe when snorlax fly.

I noticed the taillow and zigzagoon from last night huddled close together, whispering and chuckling to each other, as if in conspiracy. I paused and stared them both in the face with slightly bared teeth. If these clowns had something to say, they could at least say it to my face. At my glare, the zigzagoon turned his head, as if a flea had conveniently begun to harass his backside. The taillow however, kept eye contact; its white chest seemed to puff up in derisive confidence with every breath he took. It's really easy to be confident and brave when safe in a crowd of myriad protectors. He cocked his head in the classic I'm-better-than-you-are method and said in a crackling voice "What's the matter, darkling? I thought you _liked _getting attention." The zigzagoon and a bunch of others surrounding the taillow began to giggle, as if they were the backup gang from an old greaser movie.

It was then I suddenly realized Winterleaf stood behind me. She must have teleported back here to enjoy the show. No doubt she was relishing this.

When I didn't answer, the taillow's mouth morphed into a long menacing grin "What? No answer? It's not fun begin laughed at is it? Not when you're on the receiving end. Why aren't you laughing anymore, darkling? This is really funny. Why don't you laugh?"

A natu joined him at his side and playfully jabbed him in the wing "I don't think she gets the joke, Race."

The taillow- Race- adopted a look of false remorse "Oh? You don't get our joke? Is that why you aren't laughing? We are. Aren't we guys?"

As if on cue, the cluster of pokemon broke into degrading laughter, the kind, when heard enough, that would make someone actually believe they were lesser than what they were, believe that their laughter told truth, and that they truly deserved to be abused and laughed at by their peers. It was the laughter of cowards.

Behind me, I felt Winterleaf's psychic energy grow warm with amusement. She was **really **loving this.

It's true that when you come right down to it, in the sense of pokemon battles, size does not matter. I once saw a rattatta take down a full-grown gyarados. No joke.

Despite this however, it's still natural to believe the smaller you are, the weaker you are. And the sight of an umbreon take guff from a pokemon less than half it's size, well it's just not good for the image.

I looked back to the smug gardevoir. She smiled calmly at me._ 'Why, what's the matter Ozaki? Where is the insolent and proud creature that stood before me this morning? Does she stand and let her dignity be torn down by a lowly taillow? Why if I did not know better, I'd say you were afraid. Why do you let yourself be abused so?'_

I looked back to Race, who seemed to blow up with ignorant pride by the second. I could have given some sort of classic witty retort, I could have unleashed a shadow ball to wipe the smirk of Winterleaf's face, or I simply could have torn the taillow to shreds and devoured him. There are a lot of things I could have done in a blaze of blinded fury, and I'm sure the crowd around me expected nothing less. After all, dark types are famed for having short tempers and never allowing a stab at their honor go unpunished.

That was they were waiting for. For me to suddenly blow my top and start killing everyone so they'd actually have a _reason _to hate me besides natural bias. It would make them feel a whole lot better about themselves. Now, I'll admit that I may be hotheaded, I may be cynical, I may be stubborn, and I may even be just plain mean, but one thing I'm not is stupid. Anyone with half a brain could see that this was obviously a goading trick.

Since it was obvious I wouldn't be following anyone anywhere anytime soon, I sat down, tail curled on haunches and yawned wide, taking time to show off a fine array of sharp incisors.

Race's small cluster of cronies looked at each other in confusion as their ringleader snapped his beak. Obviously this was not the answer they were expecting. Race lifted his wings and flapped them excitedly "Hey! Hey! Just what do you think you're doin', huh? Huh? Oh, I get it, you're afraid to face me so you're cowering in fear. Yeah, that's it! You little phony, actin' all big shott-ish when youse nuttin' but a wimp."

I yawned again and said "Not cowering. I'm just bored. Wondering when someone of actual stature will say something. But apparently no one will, so I just may go back to bed. I'm supposed to be asleep in the daytime, you know. And I didn't get much sleep last night either. I was too busy laughing at a certain flammable idiot that doesn't seem to know which way he's going. Nevertheless, you wouldn't know anything about that; would you, Race? What? No answer? It was real funny Race, why aren't you laughing?"

"You think yer big stuff, dontcha? Well c'mon an' battle me!"

"I don't waste my energy on fools or cowards." I said with yet another well placed yawn "And after all, judging by the events of the past six hours my 'challenger' is both. Why don't you go do something more to your ability, like picking fights with hatchlings?"

That got him. With a squawk, he began a long stream of insults along with some choice words I probably shouldn't repeat at the moment. Behind him, Winterleaf frowned and again began down the hallway. I trailed alongside, smiling sweetly back at her.

Game. Set. Match.

"Ye shouldn't 'ave done that, Ozaki" Tikatt whispered to me. He sat close by me as Winterleaf and the rest of the Flamemasons prepared to enlighten me of the concepts of their purpose here in Rustboro. For some reason, the inkblot had been called in as well. He shuffled his paws nervously and couldn't look the five in the eyes.

I blinked at him curiously "Why not?" It was a perfectly honest response, too. I really didn't see any reason why I shouldn't have done what I did in the hallway, or anything for that matter since I came to this strange place. Everything I did, or said to anyone was the only thing I _could've_ done, and they probably deserved it anyway. I give respect or disrespect when it's due and that was that. I told Tikatt so.

"Even still" he said, "It wasn't the best thing t'do. I mean it's not the best impression in a new place."

He looked so forlorn as he looked down at his paws that I actually did begin to feel a bit sorry- just a little bit, you understand. I was suddenly beginning to worry that maybe he was here because of me. I had to know for sure.

"Eh, I'll be okay. But why are you here? You didn't do anything, did you?"

He shrugged his soft gray shoulders "I dunno. Maybe. I do a lotta bad stuff, but I dunno it's bad 'till it's too late. I do it a lot. I don't mean to, but I do. That's why my trainer left me, for me t'get better but it looks like I'm not gettin' any better."

"Oh, come on, that can't be true."

"It must be. I keep gettin' called in here for lectures. I wish I could get better…I'm tryin'. I am, I really, _really_ am. But I never get any better. Why else would no one here like me?" he sniffed "We're the fighting force against the forces of Team Aqua. We're the only ones that can stop 'em. They need strong fighters. An' I'm not strong at all."

"Hey, Inkblot?"

"Yeah?"

"Ummm… " I paused. I hadn't had that much practice at comfort "Umm. For what it's worth, _I _think you're pretty strong."

The poochena's little tail slapped the tile "Ya do?"

I smiled at him "Yeah. I do."

"Why?"

I shrugged. "I dunno. Just do."

"Oh. Thanks, Ozaki."

The masons turned back to us, the gardevoir in particular with a frustrated look on her face.

Poor Tikatt looked as if he was about to cry or something. He really must have been scared. Winterleaf whispered something into the numel's ear. He nodded to her, than to the cowering poochena before him, staring with wide yellow eyes. "Leave, if you wish"

The inkblot blinked up at me, as if asking for reassurance. I half smiled at him with a shrug. In a blur of gray and black fur, the inkblot had disappeared.

"So Ozaki, it seems that you did not enjoy your chat with Winterleaf," said Ordalphus.

I glared at all five of them. _Chat? _What chat? Chat was talking. Chats you have with friends. Chats start with "How the heck are ya?" or "Are the berries good today?" or "How about those (insert topic here)" Chats don't involve silent glares and irate accusations.

"No. I guess I didn't." I said

"That's quite a shame, Ozaki."

I scowled at the numel. He suddenly seemed a lot less friendly than when I met him before. And really, that's not saying much, but I had a feeling something was coming. Something that the Flamemasons didn't plan on telling me anytime soon.

I looked into each of their eyes.

Hotstreak kept looking out the window set high in the wall, crimson eyes focused on some unreachable object in the distance. The sunlight shone down upon his face and in addition to his bright yellow plumage, made his body glow furiously. Every few seconds or so a short burst of red flames spurted out of his beak, fizzled out and vanished in midair.

Daskar was the only one who actually made direct eye contact with me, and we both looked into each other's eyes curiously, as if wondering what we would find there. The zangoose didn't have the smugness of Winterleaf, nor the belittling calmness of Ordalphus. He looked at me, curious and, if I didn't know better, a bit admiring. But if Daskar did have any fondness for my attitude, he did nothing to show it. He stared and nothing more. Come to think of it, he hadn't spoken at all since I'd first seen him. Odd.

Cy's three eyes stared ahead blankly, not looking at Tikatt, not looking at me, looking at everything and nothing. A gentle, but slightly annoying humming sound was made as he hovered above his pillow.

Ordalphus looked back at me with his calm, half closed eyes that never seemed to alter. It was the exact same expressions that had remained on his face since I first laid eyes upon him. That patronizing, sickeningly calm expression that was driving me insane. My ears flattened in disgust. How could he be so demeaning and still so damn _calm_?! Winterleaf was arrogant, for sure, but at least she had the civility to show it. Ordalphus seemed to be hiding behind a cloak of decency and a different sort of arrogance- the kind that while was demeaning, held a firm belief that they were doing good, as if he were doing a great favor I never asked for. A sort of arrogance that says that you are beneath him, you are of a lower breed, but says it in a very _polite _way. A superiority that states 'you are ignorant, and thus resort to primitive reactions, but I forgive you for it'. As if to confirm my thoughts, the numel's grew kinder as my glare deepened.

Winterleaf's eyes were alive with cruel excitement, her arms crossed confidently. On the surface, she was expressionless but I could feel a wide satisfied smirk lurking just beneath the surface. Whatever was coming, she was going to enjoy it. I frowned and flicked a gold ringed ear. Her reddish eyes made no effort in hiding the fact that Winterleaf detested me. Believe me, the feeling was mutual.

But then, animosities between darks and psychics have been going on for longer than anyone else can remember. Psychics were straight-edged, calm, and overly kind while darks were rebellious, hotheaded and generally very rude. That's what most will tell you, but the nail drives deeper than that.

Nearly all of the poke gods, at least all the important ones, are psychic. Namely the main god of each land; Kanto has Mew, Jhoto has Celebi, and I'd heard that Honen had someone called "Jiragi" or somebody like that. It is said that Mew is the main god however, for she (or he… or it) created all pokemon, Celebi and Jiragi her direct relatives or something similar. Not to mention that the two great beasts of the sky and sea are _also _psychic and lo and behold, they also preach oneness and getting along with the humans. "Live together", Ho-oh allegedly said. And as a result I get a million lectures about how wonderful humans are. Of course, in all that time no one has ever pointed out the fact that what was said was "live together", he said nothing about _liking _each other.

There is also the fact that all elements owned by legendaries (fire, ice, water, electric, etc.) seem to give other pokemon with the same trait's a kind of inner pride. The normal, bug, fighting, ground, rock and steel types were just sort of- _there, _while the poison, ghost, and dark types somehow became demonetized overnight.

I recall confronting a kadabra in a thicket once and getting into a religious agreement with him, arguing that darks were just as good as psychics and flyers- maybe better. He responded by pointing a tacky bent spoon and demanding if that was the case, why were there not any dark deities and then laughing when I couldn't give him an answer. I knew perfectly well that I had no dark deity to pray to, but he had no right to rub my face in it like that.

Winterleaf was grinning at me. I glared at her, positive she was aware of the thoughts that plagued my mind. She was no better than the kadabra, getting shallow pleasure in reminding those with nothing of how little they have. Her red eyes were dancing, hands rubbing together in spiteful apprehension.

Power is sought by all; those with none long for a little, those with a lot want more but there is never enough. The psychics are well respected throughout the pokemon world; after all, they have the power to reach into your mind, your soul, the very essence of what makes you you, they have the power to lift you into the sky and control your limbs at will. In a sense, they in themselves may be considered gods. They have the power to snake their influence into the minds anyone and everyone, be they pokemon or human- all but one type that is completely immune to their special abilities. The ones that walk in darkness, scorning the light, not allowed to join the masses of their peers and with no wish to do so because they both know that they are different from each other. They do not follow the same deities because the dark ones have no deity to follow at all. In the end, all both sides really want is to be happy. But as the mothers of the world say, one does not always get what one wants. No one is ever truly content, for there is always something you do not or cannot have, and one you have it, it suddenly doesn't seem that wonderful and your eyes are hunting the next object of your desire. Those with gods wish to please them, so their own wishes may be granted, those without gods cannot even wish for that. So, if no god is going to help you, the only logical resolution is to help yourself.

Unless you count on the two-legged giant holding the red and white orb to do it for you.

I laughed at the very notion.

The gardevoir's brow furrowed curiously. "_What is so funny_?"

My smile held no sarcasm- a smile of pure amusement "Don't you know?"

"_I would not be asking if I did_!"

"So, you don't know. Before I answer your question, perhaps you or your colleagues may answer mine. There is a war coming, with this Team Aqua and this Kyogre, yes? You follow Groudon and Team Magma in order to stop them, do I have it right?"

Hotstreak nodded "There is more to it-"

"But that's it in a nutshell, yes?"

He frowned "I…suppose so, yes."

"Good. Just making sure. Now. I ask you this: why? What exactly would happen if you failed? What would be so bad? Would we all go poof into thin air? Will we all explode? Will we disappear? Kaboom? Poof? Is that it?"

Ordalphus' serene face was suddenly dark and threatening. The calm whimsical smile that never seemed to leave his face was replaced by a glower. So there _was_ a real pokemon under that smiling façade after all. Interesting.

The four other masons looked tense, glancing at each other with silent signals, with the exception of the emotionless Cy. I edged closer, it was going to take a lot more that a simple change of face to make this darkling turn away.

"No, dark one." said Ordalphus "That is most certainly _not_ it. "

I leaned back on my haunches and stared him square in the face "It isn't? Than what is it?" before I could get a response, I continued "I do apologize if I've caused any offence to anyone here, but if one joins an organization such as this, it would only be logical to find out what exactly they're getting themselves into, yes? One should not allow themselves to be led into the chasms of a cave without at least knowing what's inside. For all I know that cave's full of angry beedrill or golbat or maybe the whole thing's not really a cave at all, but a fang-filled mouth."

The looming expression on Ordalphus' face seemed to vanish into thin air, back to the land of hidden agendas, and his classic patronizing smile appeared once more as if nothing had been said. He shook his head pitifully "I see. But dear darkling, how do you know that the cave is not filled with wondrous things, with riches and rewards beyond your wildest imaginations? How do you know?"

"I don't. No one does."

"Ah, that is where you are mistaken, little umbreon. WE know and _we_ can take you there."

"Right. And how do I know you aren't taking me somewhere I'm going to regret?"

"How do you know we are? All it takes is trust."

I nodded "I couldn't agree more, Ordalphus. But if there's one thing I've learned it is that in the end, trust is blinding, it lies and leads you far enough down the path, to where you can't turn back. We are at the mercy of trust. It's the one thing can make or break us- to have trust in others, in ourselves. In a way, it's all one has to go by. And you have yet to give me a reason to give you mine."

The numel laughed to himself mockingly. I laughed with him. "It _is _pretty funny isn't it? Earlier, Winterleaf you demanded to know what I was laughing at. Didn't you know?"

The gardevoir expression soured.

Fangs glistened in my smirk "I thought not. Thanks."

__

"Hmph. For what?"

"You gave me my answer, and yours as well. My question is, if supposedly one of the most powerful psychics in Honen cannot even tell what a simple umbreon is laughing why in the gods' names should I rely on what she supposedly 'knows'." I laughed again "She doesn't even know what a simple umbreon laughs at! It's funny, is all."

I rose and stretched "I appreciate what you're trying to do for me, Flamemasons, but I see no point in staying here, preparing for a war that's supposedly coming from out of nowhere. I just arrived, after all. I'm sure this 'Team Magma' you speak of does not need me, and I most certainly do not need it."

Ordalphus frowned again. "That is a grave mistake, young umbreon."

I shrugged "Maybe. But if I make mistakes, I'd rather make my own. If the war comes then it comes. It's not my war. This looks a war between gods, and as our dear Winterleaf as pointed out to me, I, as a dark type have no gods and therefore this is _not_ my war."

"It is everyone's war"

"Not mine. If I want to fight in it than I will, if I don't than I won't. Simple as that."

The numel blinked slowly, and looked at his colleagues, one after the other "We are sorry that you feel this way."

"I'm sure you are. In the meantime, I will be leaving The Flamemasons."

Ordalphus nodded "If that is your wish."

I started toward the exit with one last sarcastic smirk "I hope you win your war."

"We will. Don't you worry."

"I'm not."

I could hear Winterleaf's trite sigh of exasperation "_Finally. That's the last time I use my abilities in a storm. Never know what riffraff I may conjure up."_

I laughed.

Psychics. Go figure.


End file.
